Sanofi to Acquire Kiadis for €308 Million to Accelerate Development of Off-the-Shelf NK Cell Therapies for Oncology and Infectious Diseases

On November 2, Sanofi announced that it had reached a definitive acquisition agreement with Kiadis, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. Sanofi will acquire all of Kiadis’s outstanding shares at €5.45 per share. This implies a total equity acquisition value of €308 million for Kiadis. Kiadis is dedicated to developing innovative off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) cell therapies for the treatment of life-threatening diseases.

Dr. John Reed, Global Head of Research and Development at Sanofi, stated, “We believe that Kiadis’ off-the-shelf natural killer (K-NK) cell technology platform will be broadly applicable to both hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, and will generate synergies with Sanofi’s emerging oncology immunotherapy R&D pipeline, thereby providing us with opportunities to pursue potentially optimal disease treatments.” Arthur Lahr, CEO of Kiadis, remarked, “Kiadis’ vision is to bring novel cell therapies to patients with life-threatening diseases, and this transaction will help realize that vision.”

Kiadis’ proprietary K-NK cell technology platform is based on allogeneic or “off-the-shelf” NK cells derived from healthy donors. NK cells function to seek out and identify malignant cancer cells, demonstrating broad applicability across various tumor types. This platform has the potential to enable rapid and widespread access to this cell therapy for patient populations with diverse types of tumors. Kiadis’ NK cell-based therapeutics will be developed both as standalone agents and in combination with Sanofi’s existing platforms.

In July this year, Sanofi licensed from Kiadis Pharma the preclinical cell therapy K-NK004 for development as a potential combination treatment for multiple myeloma. The press release stated that through this acquisition, the K-NK cell technology platform will provide strong scientific complementarity to Sanofi’s existing R&D pipeline and align strategically with its core therapeutic areas, with the potential to develop “first-in-class” medicines. Sanofi will leverage its expertise in research, development, and commercialization to advance Kiadis Pharma’s product portfolio, including progressing its NK cell-based therapies for patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, as well as for those with hematologic malignancies, solid tumors, and infectious diseases. Upon completion of the full acquisition, Sanofi will provide the necessary resources and capabilities to accelerate the development of Kiadis Pharma’s current product pipeline for the aforementioned disease areas.

Kiadis Pharma's NK cell therapy product pipeline includes:

K-NK002 is currently a cell therapy in Phase 2 clinical development, being evaluated for its efficacy in preventing relapse in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) after transplantation. The Phase 2 trial will be conducted in collaboration with major transplant centers in the United States.

K-NK003 is currently a Phase I clinical-stage cell therapy being evaluated for efficacy in patients with relapsed or refractory AML.

KNK-ID-101 is currently a preclinical-stage cell therapy being evaluated for its characteristics and applicability against SARS-CoV-2, as well as its development as a post-exposure preemptive treatment option for high-risk patients with COVID-19. Kiadis plans to initiate a Phase 1/2a clinical trial to evaluate this K-NK cell therapy for the treatment of patients with COVID-19.

References:

[1] Sanofi offers to acquire Kiadis, a clinical-stage company developing cell-based immunotherapy products. Retrieved 2020-11-02, from http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/11/02/2118122/0/en/Sanofi-offers-to-acquire-Kiadis-a-clinical-stage-company-developing-cell-based-immunotherapy-products.html?print=1

Source: Yiyao Guanlan

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