AstraZeneca and Cellectis to collaborate for cell therapy and genomic medicine development

Betsy Goodfellow | November 1, 2023 | News story | Research and Development AstraZeneca, CGT, Pharmacy, cell therapy, cellectis, genomic medicine 

AstraZeneca has announced a collaboration and investment agreement with Cellectis for the development of next generation cell and gene therapeutics (CGTs) in areas such as oncology, immunology and rare diseases.

Under terms of this agreement, AstraZeneca will utilise Cellectis’ proprietary gene editing technologies and manufacturing capabilities with the intention of designing novel CGT products. 25 genetic targets have already been exclusively reserved for AstraZeneca, from which up to ten candidate products could be explored for development.

The collaboration is intended to build on AstraZeneca’s expertise in this area to bring novel CGTs to patients with cancer or rare diseases.

Cellectis will receive an initial payment of $105m from AstraZeneca, including a $25m upfront cash payment under the terms of a research collaboration agreement as well as a $80m equity investment. An additional $104m equity investment is expected in early 2024 subject to final agreements.

Marc Dunoyer, chief strategy officer at AstraZeneca and chief executive officer at Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease, commented: “The differentiated capabilities Cellectis has in gene editing and manufacturing complement our in-house expertise and investments made in the past year. AstraZeneca continues to advance our ambition in cell therapy for oncology and autoimmune diseases as well as in genomic medicine, which has potential to be transformative for patients with rare diseases.”

Betsy Goodfellow

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