Less than a year after its founding, GammaDelta Therapeutics Ltd has received an investment from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd, which sees promise in the UK company’s T cell platform as a source for new immunotherapies.
Pfizer Inc has expanded its portfolio of gene therapy assets following a licensing deal with Sangamo Therapeutics Inc giving it exclusive rights to a preclinical product for haemophilia A, a bleeding disorder caused by the lack of clotting factor VIII.
ReNeuron Plc has decided to put priority on bringing its cell therapy for stroke into Phase 3 and expand an early-stage programme in ophthalmology as part of a portfolio review that took into account recent clinical data and a manufacturing breakthrough.
GE Healthcare has expanded its capacity for industralising cell therapies with the acquisition of Asymptote Ltd, a UK consultancy with technology for simplifying the freezing of cells intended as therapies, and thawing them before their use in patients.
The opportunities for commercialising cell and gene therapies appeared relatively bright as the first quarter drew to a close, helped by new finance and the prospective approval of the first cancer products made from engineered T cells.
Adaptimmune Therapeutics Plc has raised $61.8 million, net of expenses, in a public offering of its American Depositary Shares (ADSs) to advance its T cell receptor products for cancer.
Cell Medica Ltd has closed a £60 million Series C financing round to support its cell therapy platforms. The financing was announced not long after the company received a fast track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration for its lead oncology product baltaleucel-T.
Kite Pharma Inc has published further positive data for its lead chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy for cancer, while confirming that its rolling application to the FDA to receive marketing approval should be complete by the end of the first quarter.
The US Food and Drug Administration has given regulatory clearance for a Phase 1 trial of Cellectis SA’s allogeneic, gene-edited cell therapy for the treatment of refractory acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). The product is being developed by Servier and Pfizer Inc.
A case study of a young patient with sickle cell disease who was successfully treated with an experimental gene therapy has been published in the 2 March 2017 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine. It is believed to be the first treatment to deliver substantial relief from a disease that can sometimes lead to an early death.