AstraZeneca cell therapy acquisition to advance in vivo therapies

Credit: Mats Wiklund / Shutterstock.com

AstraZeneca has agreed to acquire Belgian biotech EsoBiotec for up to $1 billion. The deal focuses on development of in vivo cell therapies, utilising EsoBiotec’s Engineered NanoBody Lentiviral (ENaBL) platform.

EsoBiotec will receive an initial payment of $425 million once the deal has closed, plus up to $575 million based on development and regulatory milestones.

Their platform enables cell therapies to be administered via an IV injection and does not require immune cell depletion. By engineering immune cells in vivo (directly within the patient’s body), cell therapy treatments could be delivered in just minutes rather than weeks, which is the current process for these therapies, EsoBiotec explained. This helps to overcome key challenges in the field, such as cutting manufacturing timelines and improving patient access.

An opportunity to scale innovative cell therapies

“We are excited about the acquisition of EsoBiotec and the opportunity to rapidly advance their promising in vivo platform. We believe it has the potential to transform cell therapy and will enable us to scale these innovative treatments so that many more patients around the world can access them,” Susan Galbraith, Executive Vice President, Oncology Haematology R&D, AstraZeneca commented.

The transaction is expected to close in Q2 of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory clearances.

AstraZeneca’s recent investments

This news builds on AstraZeneca’s recent financial commitments, including in the US and Canada. The company announced a $3.5 billion investment in the US in November 2024, aligning with its aim to enhance its research and manufacturing footprint by the end of next 2026.

This multi-billion-dollar pledge, alongside AstraZeneca’s proposed $570 million US dollar investment in Canada in January, supports the firm’s goal to attain $80 billion in Total Revenue by the end of the decade.