AstraZeneca has revealed it will acquire EsoBiotec for a total consideration of up to $1 billion. 

The acquisition includes the company’s Engineered NanoBody Lentiviral (ENaBL) platform, which empowers the immune system to attack cancers. 

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. 

By engineering immune cells directly within the patient’s 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.  

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 vivoplatform. 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, added: “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.” 

Find out more about EsoBiotec in this DDW article by Jean-Pierre Latere.