Environmental, Social
and Governance
Our mission is to transform the lives of patients with serious diseases through pioneering science, teamwork and a commitment to excellence.
We are committed to building a safe, environmentally sustainable and ethical business that provides long-term value for all Atara stakeholders.
As part of this commitment, we support Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) initiatives aligned to our mission, culture and core values. These values provide the foundation for us to demonstrate our dedication to patients, staff, our environment and local communities. Our Board oversees the ESG initiatives and associated risks relevant to the Company.
We have formalized a set of company values to guide us in how we conduct our business, interact with colleagues, and execute our corporate strategy.
We are committed to good corporate governance and conducting our business in an ethical manner. We have adopted numerous policies and guidelines to facilitate legal and ethical conduct and to further align the interests of our employees and directors with our stockholders and other key stakeholders, including the patients we serve. For a detailed description of several of these policies and guidelines, see our latest Proxy Statement.
With a Board of Directors comprised of one third of individuals who self-identify as female and representation from LGBTQIA+ and minority groups, Atara Biotherapeutics meets current and future California state requirements. However, as a clinical stage biotechnology company pushing the boundaries of science, we recognize there is always more that can be done. We actively seek ways to ensure diversity, inclusion, and equitable representation is embraced at all levels of our organization – and Atara is a much richer place for it.
We are committed to operating our facilities in an environmentally responsible way to reduce environmental impacts and protect our people, our business, the environment and the communities where we operate. In light of the potential impact our business may have on the environment, we have set goals and adopted a number of internal policies and management systems designed to eliminate, reduce, or substitute hazardous materials and waste and reduce water and energy consumption. For example, we constructed our Atara Research Center in Thousand Oaks, California with provisions made to comply with Title 24 requirements, including exterior wall insulation, LED lighting with energy reducing controls system, low flow restroom fixtures, drought tolerant landscaping design, waste stream segregation for landfill and recyclables, and elimination of chlorofluorocarbons and other harmful chemicals during construction.
We are committed to fostering the growth of the next generation of leaders through our involvement in our communities. Through active engagement with local schools, we discuss careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics.
In addition, we have worked with local universities to provide summer internship opportunities at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Additionally, for the National Day of Giving we partnered with James Storehouse, a local non-profit focused on serving kids in foster care to provide housing starter kits for youth aging out of the foster care system and setting up their first home.
In support of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the nearly 1 million people living with multiple sclerosis in the United States, each year we actively participate in local “Walk MS” events to raise funds to advance groundbreaking research and provide vital support and resources for the multiple sclerosis community.
We also collaborate with other biotech companies and our local community through the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, Biocom California, the Healthcare Businesswoman’s Association, and the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce, amongst others. We look forward to continuing our community involvement to advance innovation and diversity in our industry.
We are committed to the highest standards of product quality and patient safety. Through the training of full-time staff, contract workers and vendors on our policies, standard operating procedures, work instructions and guidelines, we strive to carry out all activities to the standards and expectations for compliance and quality performance. Close oversight of the operations of our contracted manufacturing service providers makes certain their activities also adhere to our standards. Information on our current clinical studies can be found here.
As the most advanced allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy company with the first ever regulatory approval in the world for an allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy, we intend to rapidly deliver off-the-shelf treatments to patients with high unmet medical need and continue to develop novel investigational treatments for patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases. We strive to make every effort to support patients in need of treatment options. We will consider providing an individual patient with access to investigational product candidates through an expanded access study. More information on our Expanded Access Program (EAP) and process for applying can be found here.
We are dedicated to providing an inclusive, safe, and collaborative environment for all staff. Staff engagement and feedback is an integral part of helping us create and maintain an inclusive, safe and collaborative environment for our staff. We gather feedback periodically through multi-channel opportunities, such as climate surveys, company-wide surveys, culture champion forums, functional department meetings, team meetings, individual meetings, social functions and more. We conduct feedback surveys that are designed to help us measure overall staff engagement. These surveys help us assess our culture and obtain feedback on a range of topics that help us build a stronger workplace environment by providing important insight into the areas we may need to focus on. The feedback we obtain through these channels is used to support and measure our progress on key corporate initiatives and adherence to our TRAIT values.
Highlights from our 2022 climate survey with 93% engagement
We offer a comprehensive total rewards package that includes competitive pay, health, retirement, time-off and company-ownership opportunities through equity-based incentive programs. Additionally, all our staff members are offered access to well-being services such as financial, legal and estate planning. This year we enhanced our mental health solutions to provide all staff members and their families access to mental wellness tools for meditation, sleep, coaching and personalized therapy sessions. We also offer all staff members a yearly wellness stipend to support their choice of wellness activities. Finally, we have enhanced our family care solutions to provide options for backup child and elder care resources, pet care, tutoring and college coaching. Together, our rewards make up a comprehensive package that helps our staff members live balanced lives, where they can grow personally and professionally.
Consistent with our TRAIT values, we believe a diverse and inclusive culture supports our ability to serve patients. We recognize there is always more that can be done to promote diversity and inclusion and we actively seek ways to embrace diversity, inclusion and equitable representation at all levels of our organization – and Atara is a much richer place for it.
We have established a diversity and inclusion advisory group to promote engagement on a number of topics related to diversity, inclusion & belonging (“DI&B”), including workshops and supporting the emergence of affinity groups as part of our efforts to create a more equitable workplace. We encourage all of our staff to participate in our DI&B initiatives to strengthen and grow our diverse and inclusive culture, which include educational webinars, cultural engagement events, fireside chats and a robust set of DI&B courses available through LinkedIn Learning.
Our first affinity group, which has established the groundwork for future groups, is the Atara Women’s Alliance, the mission of which is to strengthen the leadership, voices and impact of women, and to create an inclusive environment where diverse viewpoints and backgrounds are valued. The Atara Out and Allied affinity group has since been established to help increase visibility, understanding and representation of LGBTQ+ Atara staff and their allies by highlighting & addressing the unique issues facing this community, while providing support and mentoring opportunities to its members.
Demographic data as of April 7, 2023
During the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, to support the health, safety and engagement of our staff and business continuity, while also beginning to draw down strict preventive measures and encourage employees to safely return to work, we have enacted numerous safeguards, such as: (i) provided all employees 10 days of COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave in alignment with Cal-OSHA regulations; (ii) established engineering controls and business processes to reduce risk of on-site transmission and preventing “super-spreader” events through physical distancing, and providing our staff with personal protective equipment; (iii) maintained an on-site COVID-19 monitoring program and testing program; and (iv) executed a rapid and transparent communication and education strategy to encourage vaccinations and provide staff with all relevant scientific data at the local, regional and national level.
In 2022, we maintained our Atara COVID-19 Team (“ACT”), sponsored by Company executives, to assess and address business risks associated with the continuing COVID19 pandemic.
The ACT team created clear and regular communications channels, monitored and provided guidance on adapting our approach with local, state and federal laws changes, assessed the impact to our operations, donors, vendors, and clinical trial sites globally, as well as monitored peer companies’ approaches to apply best practices to our processes and decisions that aligned to federal, state and local guidelines.
We continue to work under our “hybrid work” vision adapting several work arrangement models to facilitate, where appropriate, workplace flexibility. In addition to promoting productivity, flexibility and efficiency, we believe these new work arrangement models will reduce the environmental impact of our business and operations and allow us to tap into broader and more diverse talent pools.
We believe our efforts to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 to on-site staff and other corporate stakeholders is a reflection of our commitment to our TRAIT values and to the health and safety of our employees.
Our enterprise risk management program is periodically reviewed by our leadership team and by our Board. As part of our enterprise risk management program, the Audit Committee regularly considers and discusses our cybersecurity risk exposures and the steps management has taken to monitor and control these exposures, including guidelines and policies designed to mitigate risks identified. The Audit Committee receives periodic reports from our Head of Information Technology regarding our information systems and technology and associated policies, processes and practices for managing and mitigating cybersecurity and technology-related risks.
We maintain policies and procedures that describe our staff’s responsibilities for accessing computerized systems, handling data and information and reporting cybersecurity events in a timely manner. All staff and contractors are required to complete formal training on these policies, which includes ongoing training and learning assessments to inform and train staff and contractors on emerging cybersecurity topics and threats. In addition, Atara has a well-defined incident response plan that provides the framework and guidance to manage through realized risk.
We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of legal and ethical conduct and to reflect our TRAIT values. We expect our suppliers to demonstrate a similar commitment to legal and ethical business practices. Our Supplier Code of Conduct conveys our minimum expectations for our suppliers, and their respective subcontracts and suppliers, to: (i) operate in full compliance with all laws, rules, and regulations; (ii) conduct business ethically and act with integrity; (iii) uphold the human rights of workers and to treat workers with dignity and respect; (iv) provide a safe and healthy working environment; and (v) operate in an environmentally responsible and efficient manner. Our Supplier Code of Conduct can be found here.
We support a diverse and inclusive culture externally through our procurement activities. We utilize small and diverse businesses, including those owned by women, minorities and veterans, to supply goods and services in support of our business and operations.
