Kite Pharma announces positive results in patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

25-Aug-2014

Contact: Justin Jackson jjackson@burnsmc.com 212-213-0006 x327 Burns McClellan

Santa Monica, CA August 25, 2014 Kite Pharma, Inc., (NASDAQ: KITE), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing engineered autologous T cell therapy (eACT) products for the treatment of cancer, today announced the publication of clinical results in a cohort of patients demonstrating the potential to treat aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with an anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy. Kite's most advanced product candidate, KTE-C19, is an anti-CD19 CAR T cell therapy that involves genetically modifying a patient's T cells to express a CAR that is designed to target CD19, a protein expressed on the cell surface of B cell lymphomas and leukemias.

The findings from an ongoing Phase 1-2a clinical trial funded by Kite and conducted by the Surgery Branch of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) demonstrated that in 12 out of 13 evaluable patients with advanced B-cell malignancies, administration of anti-CD19 CAR T cells resulted in complete remission in eight patients and partial remission in four patients, representing an overall objective response rate of 92%. Of seven evaluable patients with chemotherapy-refractory DLBCL, four achieved complete remission, three of which are ongoing with durations ranging from 9 to 22 months. These findings are being published in an article titled, "Chemotherapy-refractory Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma and Indolent B-cell Malignancies Can Be Effectively Treated with Autologous T Cells Expressing an Anti-CD19 Chimeric Antigen Receptor," DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2014.56.2025, which is appearing in the August 25, 2014 issue of the American Society of Clinical Oncology's Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Kite and the Surgery Branch of the NCI, led by Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., are collaborating under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for the research and development of eACT based product candidates for the treatment of multiple cancer indications. The reported Phase 1-2a clinical trial is being conducted at the NCI with Dr. Rosenberg serving as principal investigator. Additional authors of the published study include James N. Kochenderfer, M.D., who presented earlier data for the NCI from the trial at the 55th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in December 2013.

David Chang, M.D., Ph.D., Kite Pharma's Executive Vice President, Research and Development, and Chief Medical Officer, commented, "To date, Kite and the NCI have conducted an extensive program to investigate personalized T cell immunotherapies for blood cancers and solid tumors, including in patients with refractory DLBCL. Both the high overall response rate and the durability of the complete remissions are noteworthy, and we believe our anti-CD19-CAR T cell approach holds great potential for the treatment of B cell malignancies, including those with aggressive, resistant disease for which there are no viable treatment options."

Ronald Levy, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Director of the Lymphoma Program and Former Chief of the Division of Oncology at Stanford University and member of Kite's Scientific Advisory Board, commented, "I have been impressed by the results reported and updated from Dr. Rosenberg's group at the NCI. Particularly compelling are the frequency and the duration of the responses obtained in the difficult-to-treat patient population with relapsed, refractory lymphomas." Dr. Levy serves as a consultant to Kite and is helping to guide the Company in their upcoming clinical trials.

"We are greatly encouraged by the strong results we have seen from our joint lead clinical program with the NCI," commented Arie Belldegrun, M.D., FACS, Kite's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Based on this substantial progress, Kite plans to file an IND in the fourth quarter of this year to initiate a Phase 1-2 single-arm multicenter clinical trial of KTE-C19 in patients with DLBCL who have failed two or more lines of therapy. We are excited to advance this promising therapy and anticipate commencing patient enrollment in our DLBCL clinical trial in the first half of 2015."

Key Study Findings

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Kite Pharma announces positive results in patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma