AstraZeneca to advance haematology cell therapy

For an upfront price of $1.0 billion, AstraZeneca has agreed to acquire Gracell Biotechnologies, supporting the development of cell therapies in haematology and autoimmune diseases.

Gracell’s FasTCAR-enabled B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)/CD19 dual-targeting autologous CAR-T cell therapy GC012F, is an asset AstraZeneca will gain access to as part of the new acquisition agreement announced on 26 December 2023.

The novel treatment is being studied in multiple haematologic malignancies and autoimmune diseases. In the US, a Phase Ib/II trial is evaluating GC012F for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. The cell therapy also has potential in other haematologic malignancies, as well as autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), AstraZeneca highlighted.

“GC012F will accelerate our cell therapy strategy in haematology, with the opportunity to bring a potential best-in-class treatment to patients living with blood cancers using a differentiated manufacturing process, as well as exploring the potential for cell therapy to reset the immune response in autoimmune diseases,” commented Susan Galbraith, Executive Vice President of Oncology R&D at AstraZeneca.

AstraZeneca highlighted that beneficially, the Gracell FasTCAR platform significantly shortens manufacturing time, enhances T cell fitness and could improve the effectiveness of autologous CAR-T treatment in patients.

The company stated that its manufacturing platform “… has the potential to optimise the therapeutic profile of engineered T cells, to pioneer the next generation of autologous cell therapies,” noted Dr William Cao, founder, Chairman and CEO, Gracell.

Additional terms of the agreement

AstraZeneca shared: “combined, the upfront and potential contingent value payments represent, if achieved, a transaction value of approximately $1.2 billion.”

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, subject to certain closing conditions.

The cell and gene therapy market in 2024

With research from GlobalData predicting that the top trend in the pharma industry in 2024 will be cell and gene therapy, AstraZeneca’s new acquisition is supporting this outlook. Data showed that 18 percent of industry professionals believed this to be the case, with personalised medicine predicted as the top trend in 2024, according to 16 percent of the respondents.

However, GlobalData’s survey warned that financial burdens such as higher development and production costs and the risk of clinical trial failures continue to put pressure on development of this modality.

As such, Urte Jakimaviciute, Senior Director of Market Research at GlobalData added: “The industry may try to offset the high development costs by outsourcing… With lower R&D development costs than in advanced markets, countries like China are becoming attractive markets for the development of cell and gene therapy, and therefore may emerge as strong competitors of overseas-made cell and gene therapy.”

According to the research, the global cell and gene therapy market is predicted to value $80 billion by 2029. The field of oncology is anticipated to hold 44 percent of the market by this year.

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