Kite and Appia Bio Collaborate to Develop Innovative Allogeneic CAR-iNKT Cell Therapies for Multiple Blood Cancers

On August 5, 2021, Kite Pharma, a subsidiary of Gilead Sciences, and Appia Bio jointly announced that the two companies have entered into a collaboration and license agreement to co-develop cell therapies generated through the differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for the treatment of hematological malignancies. The collaboration will leverage Appia Bio's "ACUA" allogeneic cell technology platform to develop chimeric antigen receptor-expressing invariant natural killer T cell (CAR-iNKT) therapies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Appia Bio will engineer two HSC-derived CAR-iNKT candidate therapies using the chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) provided by Kite, and will be responsible for conducting preclinical and early-stage clinical studies. Appia Bio will receive an upfront payment and an equity investment, as well as potential additional milestone payments totaling up to $875 million. Kite will be responsible for the subsequent development, manufacturing, and commercialization of the designated candidate product(s).

iNKT cells play a critical role in tumor surveillance and inhibiting the progression of various malignancies. However, due to their low abundance in the human body, manufacturing CAR-iNKT cell therapies by isolating these cells from patients—akin to traditional CAR-T approaches—presents significant challenges. Leveraging insights into lymphocyte developmental biology, Appia Bio generates CAR-iNKT cells from HSCs. Its developed ACUA platform holds the potential to enhance the efficacy and safety of HSC-derived CAR-iNKT cell therapies while streamlining the manufacturing process. The company recently announced in May the completion of a $52 million Series A financing round to support the clinical advancement of its CAR-iNKT cell therapy candidates.

Note: The original text has been abridged.

References:

[1] KITE AND APPIA BIO ANNOUNCE COLLABORATION TO RESEARCH AND DEVELOP ALLOGENEIC CELL THERAPIES FOR CANCER. Retrieved August 5, 2021, from https://www.kitepharma.com/news/press-releases/2021/8/kite-and-appia-bio-announce-collaboration-to-research-and-develop-allogeneic-cell-therapies-for-cancer

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