AstraZeneca has announced the acquisition of EsoBiotec, a company pioneering innovative approaches in the realm of immune cell engineering. The acquisition, valued at $425 million upfront with additional potential milestone payments of up to $575 million, signals AstraZeneca’s commitment to advancing the next generation of therapies designed to combat cancer and autoimmune diseases.

EsoBiotec, based in Mont-Saint Guibert, Belgium, is currently engaged in the early clinical development of therapies utilizing an in vivo method to engineer immune cells directly within a patient’s body. This approach significantly contrasts with existing cell therapies that typically require a cumbersome and costly manufacturing process. Traditional autologous therapies harvest a patient’s immune cells, which are then modified to target specific diseases. This multi-step process includes a conditioning regimen to allow the new cells to take hold—often resulting in lengthy and complex treatment timelines.

In a notable advancement, EsoBiotec’s platform technology, named Engineered NanoBody Lentiviral (ENaBL), utilizes lentiviruses to provide genetic instructions to immune cells, equipping them to actively identify and eliminate disease-causing cells. This innovative method not only targets cancers—where cell therapies have made impactful strides—but also holds promise for developing treatments for a range of autoimmune diseases, an area that is increasingly gaining traction in cell therapy research.

The efficiency of EsoBiotec’s approach is further underscored by the quick administration of its therapies. Administered via intravenous injection, qualifications suggest that treatments can be delivered in a matter of minutes, bypassing the extensive conditioning regimen typical of conventional therapies. Interestingly, one batch of EsoBiotec’s therapy has the potential to treat hundreds of patients, paving the way for broader access and application of cell therapies compared to current autologous methods, which are often confined to specialized medical centers due to their high costs.

Expressing enthusiasm for the acquisition, Susan Galbraith, Executive Vice President of Oncology Hematology R&D at AstraZeneca, stated, “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.”

This acquisition comes on the heels of EsoBiotec’s initiation of a clinical test for ESO-T01, an in vivo cell therapy designed for targeting multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. This approach employs techniques akin to existing CAR T-cell therapies developed by other industry leaders but offers the added benefit of in vivo engineering.

AstraZeneca, while not in the vanguard of initial cancer cell therapy developments, is strategically positioning itself to be a frontrunner in subsequent waves of research and therapy implementation. Collaborations with companies such as Quell Therapeutics, focusing on regulatory T cell therapies, and Cellectis, leveraging gene-editing technology for allogeneic therapies, underscore AstraZeneca’s proactive approach in the cell therapy landscape.

Additionally, AstraZeneca’s recent acquisition of Gracell Biotechnologies points to its ambitions in enhancing the manufacturability of cell therapies, with prospects for next-day turnarounds on cell therapy production.

Though the race for allogeneic therapies is heating up, companies like Capstan Therapeutics and Orca Bio are also innovating in this space, exploring various methodologies and promising data in trials. Orca Bio recently reported impressive Phase 3 data for its lead program, exemplifying the potential efficacy of allogeneic cancer cell therapies and suggesting a bright future for this evolving field.