Xyphos, Poseida to Develop Allogeneic Cancer Cell Therapies

Poseida Therapeutics and Astellas Pharma's subsidiary, Xyphos Biosciences, have entered into a research collaboration and licensing agreement aimed at advancing new allogeneic cell therapies for cancer. This partnership seeks to leverage the strengths of both companies to create a novel convertible chimeric antigen receptors (convertibleCAR) programme.

The collaboration will combine Poseida's allogeneic CAR-T platform with Xyphos’ ACCEL technology. Together, they aim to develop two convertibleCAR product candidates designed to target solid tumors more effectively. Poseida is set to receive an upfront payment of $50 million, and stands to gain additional development and sales milestone payments, as well as contingency payments that could total up to $550 million. Additionally, Poseida is entitled to low double-digit tiered royalties based on the net sales of the products developed from this collaboration.

Xyphos will bear the research costs incurred by Poseida and will take responsibility for the development and commercialisation of the resultant products. This financial arrangement is part of a broader strategic investment by Astellas in August 2023, aimed at supporting Poseida's efforts to revolutionize cancer cell therapy.

Poseida is dedicated to advancing cell and gene therapies with the potential to cure certain cancers and rare diseases. Its oncology pipeline includes promising allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy product candidates that could significantly improve patient care. Poseida's president and CEO, Kristin Yarema, emphasized the strategic importance of this partnership, highlighting the shared vision with Astellas to address unmet needs in treating solid tumor malignancies through pioneering cell therapies. Yarema also noted that this agreement underscores the economic value of Poseida's non-viral technologies and broadens the scope of its development efforts beyond its existing oncology pipeline.

Xyphos’s ACCEL technology platform uses convertible chimeric antigen receptors with MicAbodies to precisely target tumor cells. This innovative approach is expected to enhance the efficacy of the developed therapies.

Furthermore, in February 2024, Xyphos entered into another significant research partnership and license agreement with Kelonia Therapeutics to develop immuno-oncology therapeutics, in a deal valued at $875 million. This indicates Xyphos's ongoing commitment to expanding its collaborative efforts in the field of oncology therapeutics.

The announcement of this collaboration between Poseida and Xyphos marks a significant step forward in the development of allogeneic cell therapies for cancer. By combining their advanced technologies and expertise, both companies aim to deliver groundbreaking treatments that could transform the way solid tumors are treated, providing new hope for patients with these challenging malignancies.