Date: 2015-03-17
Type of information: Company acquisition
Acquired company: T-Cell Factory (The Netherlands)
Acquiring company: Kite Pharma (USA - CA)
Amount: €20 million
Terms: * On March 17, 2015, Kite Pharma, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing engineered autologous T cell therapy (eACT™) products based on CAR and TCR gene therapy platforms for the treatment of cancer, announced that it has further strengthened its TCR product platform and established a European presence through the acquisition of T-Cell Factory B.V. (TCF™), a privately held Dutch company. TCF is an Amsterdam, Netherlands -based biotechnology company. It was founded by Professor Ton Schumacher (CSO, Kite Pharma EU; Co-founder AIMM Therapeutics and Amsterdam Biotherapeutics Unit, Deputy Director of NKI), Professor Dirk Busch (former TCF senior advisor, Director of the Institute for Medical Microbiology , Immunology and Hygiene (MIH) at TUM School of Medicine ), Lothar Germeroth , Ph.D. (former TCF senior advisor, CEO IBA GmbH and COO Stage Cell Therapeutics), Carsten Linnemann , Ph.D. (Senior Scientist, Kite Pharma EU), and Georg Dössinger, Ph.D. (Scientist at MIH). TCF has been renamed Kite Pharma EU and Dr. Markwin Velders has been appointed Vice President, Operations of Kite Pharma EU. Financial terms of Kite\'s acquisition of TCF include an upfront payment of up to €20 million (approximately $21 million) to TCF shareholders, licensors and employees, of which €3.8 million (approximately $4 million) will be paid in Kite stock. Kite is obligated to make certain milestone payments upon the achievement of clinical, regulatory and sales milestones relating to TCR-based product candidates.
Details: T-Cell Factory B.V. (TCF™) has the ability to discover and develop tumor-specific TCRs for broad application in cancer treatment based on its proprietary TCR-GENErator™ platform. Professor Schumacher will assume the role of Chief Scientific Officer of Kite Pharma EU, and maintain his position as Deputy Director of the NKI. Through this acquisition, Kite Pharma has obtained license agreements with IBA GmbH , Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation , and the NKI that include rights to certain new intellectual property in the TCR space developed by Professor Schumacher at the NKI. In addition, the acquisition provides access to European clinical manufacturing facilities, launching a base for Kite to build its global presence and initiate clinical programs in the EU. The acquisition of TCF follows the announcement of Kite\'s expanded Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to develop new TCR candidates, including against tumor neo-antigens, truly tumor-specific antigens generated as tumors accumulate genetic mutations. TCRs broaden the approach to cancer treatment by allowing targeting of tumor antigens found inside cancer cells, as well as surface antigens. In addition to Kite\'s industry-leading presence in CAR T cell therapy, Kite is advancing a broad pipeline of TCR-based product candidates to address diverse solid tumors. Through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Kite\'s pipeline includes clinical-stage programs advancing multiple TCR-based product candidates: NY-ESO-1 against various tumors; HPV-16 E6 antigens against cervical and head and neck cancers; and certain MAGE antigens against various tumors. The CRADA has been recently expanded to include the research and development of TCR-based product candidates directed against neo-antigens, which are tumor-specific antigens generated as tumors accumulate genetic mutations.
Related: Cancer- Oncology cell therapy gene therapy production manufacturing
