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AstraZeneca PLC on Wednesday announced a new collaboration and investment agreement with clinical-stage biotechnology company Cellectis. Cambridge, England-based AstraZeneca said that under the terms of the deal, it will leverage Cellectis’s proprietary gene editing technologies and manufacturing capabilities to design new cell and gene therapy products. Cellectis specialises in therapeutics ‘in areas of high unmet need’ like rare diseases, immunology and oncology. ‘The differentiated capabilities Cellectis has in gene editing and manufacturing complement our in-house expertise and investments made in the past year,’ said Marc Dunoyer, AstraZeneca’s chief strategy officer and chief executive officer of Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease. AstraZeneca said it has exclusively reserved 25 genetic targets as part of the deal, potentially allowing it to explore up to ten candidate products for development. It retains an option to exercise a worldwide exclusive licence for those products. The pharmaceutical company will pay Cellectis an initial consideration of $105 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, including a $25 million upfront cash payment and a $80 million equity investment at $5 per share. AstraZeneca expects to complete a further $140 million equity investment in early 2024, giving it a total equity stake of approximately 44% in Cellectis. Cellectis could also gain an investigational new drug option fee, tiered royalties and various milestone payments of $70 million to $220 million per candidate product. AstraZeneca shares were up 1.0% at 10,351.32 pence in London early on Wednesday. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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