Sector News

Kite executives are back with a CAR-T startup, $300M and Pfizer drugs

April 3, 2018
Life sciences

They created the first CAR-T for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and now they’re working on the next chapter. Former Kite Pharma executives Arie Belldegrun and David Chang are helming Allogene Therapeutics, which starts life with a massive $300 million series A round and 17 off-the-shelf CAR-T assets licensed from Pfizer.

Belldegrun, the former Kite CEO, will serve as executive chairman, while Chang, Kite’s former R&D chief and CMO, will take the reins as CEO and president.

Pfizer picked up the global rights to Cellectis’ CAR-T assets in 2014. The Big Pharma coughed up $80 million up front, but with $185 million per product up for grabs, the deal could have been worth as much as $2.9 billion. Now, Allogene is on the hook for those milestones and royalties for each commercialized product, Cellectis said.

A year after the initial tie-up with Cellectis, Pfizer and Servier acquired the rights to another candidate, UCART19, an allogeneic CAR-T therapy being developed for CD19-expressing hematological malignancies.

UCART19 is the lead asset—Allogene and Servier plan to start phase 2 studies in 2019. The rest of the assets have not yet been tested in humans.

Novartis’ Kymriah and Kite/Gilead’s Yescarta both scored FDA approval last year, becoming the first CAR-T therapies to hit the market. These treatments involve taking a patient’s T cells, modifying them to better target and attack cancer cells, then reinfusing them back into the patient.

Because the treatment is taken from a patient’s own cells, manufacturing can be complex and take a long time. Allogeneic’s approach uses donor T cells, which can be stored and used “off the shelf.”

“The allogeneic CAR-T platform represents a potentially transformative approach to treating cancer, and we are very excited about what the future may hold for this area of research,” said Robert Abraham, SVP and head of oncology R&D at Pfizer, in a release. “We believe that under the strong scientific, clinical development and regulatory expertise of Allogene’s leadership team, the portfolio of CAR-T assets contributed by Pfizer will be well-positioned to rapidly advance into potential innovative new therapies, and ultimately to reach patients in need more quickly.”

“We believe CAR-T is one of the most exciting spaces within the pharmaceutical landscape today, and we are thrilled to partner with a best-in-class management team and industry leaders to invest in this potentially groundbreaking opportunity,” said Todd Sisitsky, managing partner at TPG Capital, in the statement. The firm participated in Allogene’s series A, alongside Pfizer, BellCo Capital, the University of California Office of the Chief Investment Officer and Vida Ventures, a new life sciences VC firm launched Tuesday with $295 million. Belldegrun is one of Vida’s founders.

“The Vida Founders and their investors came together because we have a unified belief that great breakthroughs in medicine will only come to pass if supported by those willing to take calculated risks,” Belldegrun said in the statement. “Vida is structured to utilize dynamic access to funding that allows us to capitalize on a breadth of opportunities and take unconventional approaches to investing.”

Cellectis was up 16% late morning on the news, as it looked to play up a new partner, rather than the loss of a Big Pharma, while Pfizer was marginally up by around half a percent.

By Amirah Al Idrus

Source: Fierce Biotech

comments closed

Related News

March 25, 2023

UK regulator makes biggest changes in 20 years to speed up trials, attract global studies

Life sciences

The U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has introduced several new measures to make it easier to run clinical trials in the country, marking the first time in 20 years the regulatory body has made such an overhaul.

March 25, 2023

Novo partners with Dewpoint to mine an emerging field for new drugs

Life sciences

Diabetes drugmaker Novo Nordisk is partnering with Dewpoint Therapeutics in a deal aimed at uncovering new treatments for insulin resistance by targeting cellular droplets known as biomolecular condensates. Dewpoint will receive $55 million upfront from Novo, which plans to develop small molecule drugs against targets discovered using Dewpoint’s technology.

March 25, 2023

Sanofi’s Dupixent receives EC approval for atopic dermatitis

Life sciences

Sanofi has secured approval for Dupixent (dupilumab) from the European Commission (EC) to treat severe atopic dermatitis in children aged six months to five years, who are systemic therapy candidates, in the European Union (EU). This approval makes Dupixent the first and only medicine available in the US and Europe for the treatment of such young children.

How can we help you?

We're easy to reach