Pfizer and Allogene partner to develop cancer therapies
Pfizer has revealed its plan to take a 25% stake in Allogene Therapeutics to further develop Pfizer’s allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR T) therapy.
CAR T therapy is an investigational immune cell therapy approach to treating cancer, regarded by many specialists as the future of cancer treatments.
San Francisco-based Allogene was co-founded and is led by former Kite Pharma executives, including its former CEO Arie Belldegrun. Last year, Gilead Sciences acquired Kite for $11.9 billion.
“Pfizer views this agreement as an attractive opportunity to support the continued development of allogeneic CAR T therapy in a highly focused and skilled manner,” said a statement released on Tuesday, April 3.
Allogene will receive the rights to 16 of Pfizer’s preclinical CAR T assets licensed from Cellectic and Servier.
It will also receive the rights to a clinical asset licensed from Servier, UCART19, an allogeneic CAR T therapy.
In partnership with Servier, UCART19 is being developed in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and is currently in phase I. Allogene and Servier are planning to initiate phase 2 studies in 2019.
“The allogeneic CAR T platform represents a potentially transformative approach to treating cancer, and we are very excited about what the future may hold for this area of research,” said Robert Abraham, senior vice president and group head, oncology research and development (R&D), Pfizer.
David Chang, former executive vice president, R&D and chief medical officer of Kite, will lead Allogene.
He added: “We believe that this partnership among leaders in the field—visionaries, industry forerunners, venture capitalists and researchers—has the potential to accelerate the development of allogeneic T cell therapy, making it a reality and forever changing how cancer is treated.”
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