AstraZeneca and Quell announce autoimmune disease partnership worth over $2bn
12 Jun 2023
Cell TherapyLicense out/inImmunotherapy
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Source: PMLiVE
AstraZeneca (AZ) and Quell Therapeutics have announced a collaboration agreement focused on developing cell therapies for two autoimmune disease indications, with the deal potentially worth over $2bn.
The partnership will utilise Quell’s T-regulatory (Treg) cell engineering modules, including its Foxp3 Phenotype Lock, to develop Treg cell therapy candidates for type 1 diabetes (T1D) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Quell will be responsible for the process development and manufacturing of clinical candidates through to the end of the first-in-human clinical study, at which point AZ will have the option to further develop and commercialise successful candidates.
Under the terms of the agreement, Quell will receive an upfront payment of $85m and will also be eligible to receive over $2bn in future development and commercialisation milestones, plus tiered royalties.
Quell will also have the option to co-develop therapies from the T1D programme in the US in exchange for additional milestone payments and increased royalties on net US sales.
Mene Pangalos, executive vice president, BioPharmaceuticals R&D at AZ, said: “This is a very exciting collaboration with Quell as we look to expand our next-generation therapeutic toolbox and explore the untapped potential with Treg cell therapies in autoimmune indications."
Iain McGill, Quell’s chief executive officer, said: "We are proud and incredibly excited to partner our leading science with the deep experience of AZ to accelerate the application of our Treg cell therapy platform in major autoimmune disease, where we believe there is a broad opportunity to reset immune tolerance and drive durable responses for patients.”
Engineered Treg cell therapies aim to regulate the immune system in a targeted way to prevent over activation and resultant pathological immune responses.
They have been shown to potentially possess multiple therapeutic effects within a single medicine, helping overcome the multifaceted nature of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
Outside of the partnership, Quell’s lead candidate QEL-001 is being developed to induce operational tolerance following liver transplantation, with the potential to protect the post-transplant liver without the need for chronic immunosuppressive medications. The company is also advancing additional programmes in neuroinflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
“We are extremely pleased to have AZ on board as our first major partner. This collaboration builds on our pioneering work to develop exquisitely engineered, multi-modular Treg cell therapies for immune disorders and provides excellent validation for the technologies and capabilities we have established," McGill said.
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