REG - AstraZeneca PLC - AstraZeneca to acquire EsoBiotec

AstraZenecaAnnouncement

17/03/2025 07:15

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RNS Number : 9023A  AstraZeneca PLC  17 March 2025

17 March 2025

AstraZeneca to acquire EsoBiotec to advance cell therapy ambition

Acquisition includes world-leading in vivo delivery platform with potential to
transform cell therapy

 

AstraZeneca has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire EsoBiotec, a
biotechnology company pioneering in vivo cell therapies that has demonstrated
promising early clinical activity. The EsoBiotec Engineered NanoBody
Lentiviral (ENaBL) platform empowers the immune system to attack cancers and
could offer many more patients access to transformative cell therapy
treatments delivered in just minutes rather than the current process which
takes weeks.

 

ENaBL uses highly targeted lentiviruses to deliver genetic instructions to
specific immune cells, such as T cells, which programme them to recognise and
destroy tumour cells for cancer treatment or autoreactive cells for potential
use in immune-mediated diseases. This approach enables cell therapies to be
administered through a simple IV injection and without the need for immune
cell depletion.

 

Traditional cell therapies require cells to be removed from a patient,
genetically modified outside the body, and then readministered to the patient
as a medicine after immune cell depletion, typically taking weeks. By
engineering immune cells directly within the patients body, the EsoBiotec in
vivo approach has the potential to address many of the barriers associated
with traditional cell therapies, reducing complexities and manufacturing
timelines, thereby increasing access for patients.

 

Susan Galbraith, Executive Vice President, Oncology Haematology R&D,
AstraZeneca, said: We are excited about the acquisition of EsoBiotec and the
opportunity to rapidly advance their 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 many more patients around the world can access
them. EsoBiotec will accelerate and expand the impact of our recent
investments and marks a major step forward in realising our ambition to
harness the full potential of cell therapy.

 

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

 

EsoBiotec will become a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca, with
operations in Belgium.

 

Financial considerations

AstraZeneca will acquire all outstanding equity of EsoBiotecfor a total
consideration of up to $1bn, on a cash and debt free basis. This will include
an initial payment of $425m on deal closing, and up to $575m in contingent
consideration 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 clearances. The transaction does
not impact AstraZenecas financial guidance for 2025.

 
Notes

 

About EsoBiotec

EsoBiotec is a leading in vivo cell therapy company with the mission to make
these innovative treatments more accessible, effective and affordable. By
engineering immune cells directly within the patients body, EsoBiotec is
eliminating the barriers of traditional cell therapies and unlocking new
possibilities for oncology and immune-mediated diseases.

 

EsoBiotecs proprietary ENaBL platform redefines adoptive cell therapy,
enabling single IV, off-the-shelf treatments that reduce costs, improve
patient experience, eliminate the need for immune cell depletion and have the
potential to improve efficacy and safety through advanced lentiviral vector
technology. The vector has modifications which deliver specificity to immune
cells, such as T cells, and also enable the vector to evade rapid elimination
by the patients immune system.

 

AstraZeneca in cell therapy

AstraZenecas ambition is to realise the full potential of cell therapies. It
is focused on empowering the immune system to attack cancers, reset the
underlying drivers of immune-mediated diseases to return patients to health,
and provide transformative solutions with curative potential for people living
with rare diseases. To achieve this, the Company is building world-class cell
therapy capabilities and advancing a broad pipeline of cell therapies, enabled
by technologies including chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR T), T-cell
receptor therapies (TCR T) and CAR T regulatory (CAR Tregs) cells.

 

AstraZeneca in oncology
(https://www.astrazeneca.com/our-therapy-areas/oncology.html)

AstraZeneca is leading a revolution in oncology with the ambition to provide
cures for cancer in every form, following the science to understand cancer and
all its complexities to discover, develop and deliver life-changing medicines
to patients.

 

The Company's focus is on some of the most challenging cancers. It is through
persistent innovation that AstraZeneca has built one of the most diverse
portfolios and pipelines in the industry, with the potential to catalyse
changes in the practice of medicine and transform the patient experience.

 

AstraZeneca has the vision to redefine cancer care and, one day, eliminate
cancer as a cause of death.

 

AstraZeneca (https://www.astrazeneca.com/)

AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/Nasdaq: AZN) is a global, science-led biopharmaceutical
company that focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialisation of
prescription medicines in Oncology, Rare Diseases, and BioPharmaceuticals,
including Cardiovascular, Renal & Metabolism, and Respiratory &
Immunology. Based in Cambridge, UK, AstraZenecas innovative medicines are sold
in more than 125 countries and used by millions of patients worldwide. Please
visit astrazeneca.com and follow the Company on social media @AstraZeneca.

 
Contacts

For details on how to contact the Investor Relations Team, please click here
(https://www.astrazeneca.com/investor-relations.html#Contacts) . For Media
contacts, click here (https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/contacts.html)
.

 

Adrian Kemp

Company Secretary

AstraZeneca PLC

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