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On February 15, Astellas announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Xyphos Biosciences, Inc. and Kelonia Therapeutics, Inc. have reached a research collaboration and licensing agreement to jointly develop novel cancer immunotherapies.Kelonia Therapeutics is an in vivo CAR-T therapy developer that uses lentiviral vectors to deliver transgenes expressing chimeric antigen receptors (CAR), generating CAR-T cell therapy in vivo. The company’s lentiviral vector (LVV) engineered platform is called iGPS.®, delivering therapeutic transgenes to these cells. It can not only be used for producing cellular therapies in vivo, but also for delivering other gene therapies, gene-editing systems, or transgenes that regulate mRNA expression.Xyphos is an immuno-oncology therapy developer with ACCEL.TMTechnology, namely the CAR (Chimeric Antigen Receptor) immune cell therapy technology platform. Xyphos's proprietary molecules can be introduced into natural immune cells or Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) cells, enabling immunotherapy at the oncology level.
Xyphos R&D Pipeline
According to the terms of the agreement, the two companies will combine Kelonia's iGPS ®Platform and Xyphos' ACCELTMTechnology, developed two innovative in vivo CAR-T cell therapies. Xyphos will be responsible for the development and commercialization of the collaborative research products. Kelonia will receive a $40 million upfront payment from the first project. If Xyphos exercises the option for the second project, Kelonia will also receive an additional $35 million, as well as potential milestone and contingent payments.Total Amount Close to 800 Million US Dollars。In addition, Kelonia will receive research and development funding for the work conducted under the collaboration and is eligible to receive tiered royalties in the double-digit percentage range of net sales.Kevin Friedman, Ph.D., CEO and Founder of Kelonia TherapeuticsSaid: "The company's iGPS®Platform and Xyphos' ACCELTM"Combined with technology, innovative CAR-T therapies will be developed for patients."
References:
https://www.astellas.com/en/news/28916
