AstraZeneca to Acquire EsoBiotec for Up to $1 Billion to Advance In Vivo Cell Therapy Platform

On March 17, in Belgium, EsoBiotec SA, a biotechnology company and pioneer in in vivo cell therapy that has demonstrated promising early clinical activity, today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to be acquired by AstraZeneca for $1 billion. EsoBiotec’s Engineered Nanobody Lentivirus (ENaBL) platform enables the immune system to attack cancer and could provide transformative cell therapy to more patients in a matter of minutes, as opposed to the current process that takes weeks.

EsoBiotec to Become AstraZeneca's Wholly Owned Subsidiary, Operating in Belgium. AstraZeneca will acquire all outstanding shares of EsoBiotec on a cash-free and debt-free basis for a total consideration of up to $1 billion. This includes an initial payment of $425 million at closing and up to $575 million in contingent payments based on development and regulatory milestones. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.EsoBiotec has cumulatively raised 22 million euros in financing, with past investors including Thuja Capital, UCB Ventures, Invivo Partners, Wallonie Entreprenendre (WE), SambrInvest, and Investsud.

ENaBL uses highly targeted lentiviruses to deliver genetic instructions to specific immune cells (such as T cells), enabling them to recognize and destroy tumor cells for cancer treatment or autoreactive cells for immune-mediated diseases. This approach allows cell therapy to be administered through simple intravenous injection without the need for immune cell depletion.

Traditional cell therapy requires the extraction of cells from patients, genetic modification in vitro, and then re-administration as a drug after immune cell depletion, typically taking weeks. By directly modifying immune cells within the patient’s body, EsoBiotec's in vivo approach has the potential to address many of the obstacles associated with traditional cell therapy, reducing complexity and manufacturing time, thereby increasing patient accessibility.

Susan Galbraith, Executive Vice President of Oncology and Hematology R&D at AstraZeneca, stated:"We are excited about the acquisition of EsoBiotec and the opportunity to rapidly advance its promising in vivo platform. We believe it has the potential to transform cell therapy and will enable us to scale these innovative treatments so that more patients around the world can access them. EsoBiotec will accelerate and amplify the impact of our recent investments, marking an important step forward in our ambition to fully realize the potential of cell therapies."

EsoBiotec CEO Dr. Jean-Pierre Latere said:"We look forward to collaborating with AstraZeneca, a global leader in drug development, to advance our shared goal of providing transformative and cost-effective cell therapies to more patients worldwide. By combining our expertise and resources, we can accelerate the development of our in vivo platform, which features a novel delivery technology that we believe has broad therapeutic applicability."