Sangamo acquires biotech company for $84m

California-based Sangamo Therapeutics has acquired biotech company TxCell for approximately €72 million ($84 million).

With the acquisition of a majority stake in TxCell, genomic therapy developer Sangamo is acquiring expertise in “regulatory T cell” (Treg) development for immunological diseases. This is one of Sangamo’s therapeutic areas of focus for its proprietary product candidate pipeline.

Tregs are a subset of T cells which are critical for maintaining immune homeostasis within the body.

Sangamo will evaluate the potential of CAR-Treg (which are Tregs genetically modified with a chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR) therapies to prevent graft rejection in solid organ transplant. The company will also look at the therapies’ potential for the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as Crohn’s disease and multiple sclerosis.

Next year, Sangamo expects to submit a clinical trial authorisation application in Europe for TxCell’s first CAR-Treg investigational product candidate for solid organ transplant.

With the use of its zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) gene-editing technology, Sangamo is also planning to develop next-generation autologous and allogeneic CAR-Treg cell therapies for use in treating autoimmune diseases.

Sandy Macrae, CEO of Sangamo, said that the deal will combine TxCell’s Treg expertise with Sangamo’s ex vivo gene-editing capabilities.

“We believe CAR-Treg therapies will prove to be as exciting for immunology as CAR-T has been for oncology,” added Macrae, who LSIPR interviewed earlier this year.

Stephane Boissel, CEO of TxCell, explained that Sangamo’s gene-editing technology will “facilitate the precise genetic modifications needed to create a new class of Treg-based antigen and tissue specific immunosuppressive medicines”.