Astellas Pharma is delving deeper into cell therapies for cancer, announcing Thursday a research deal to develop a pair of treatments with the help of Boston-based biotechnology startup Kelonia Therapeutics.
Through the deal, the two companies will combine their respective technologies to develop medicines that introduce a gene to immune cells, modifying them inside the body rather than in a laboratory. Kelonia is supplying a way to precisely deliver genetic material into the body, while Astellas, through a subsidiary called Xyphos Biosciences, is bringing its cell therapy technology to bear.
Astellas will pay Kelonia $40 million upfront to develop one initial program and could add $35 million more if it exercises an option on another. Kelonia could receive as much as $800 million more in milestone payments, though those payouts may not materialize. The startup will also receive R&D funding from Astellas for work related to the collaboration.
“We see revolutionary promise in this approach, and will work diligently with our partners at Astellas to unlock its full potential for patients that need it most,” Kevin Friedman, Kelonia’s CEO, said in a statement.
The two companies didn’t specify which cancer types they will target.
For Astellas, the deal is the latest in a series of cell and gene therapy deals. The company made genetic medicine a focus of a strategic plan launched in 2018 to help offset patent expirations for some of its top-selling drugs.
So far, the company’s largest investments have involved gene therapy, most notably a $3 billion buyout of Audentes Therapeutics in 2019. But the company has steadily built up capabilities in cell therapy, too, both through in-house research and via dealmaking.
A 2015 purchase of Ocata Therapeutics yielded a cell therapy for the eye disease geographic atrophy that’s in early testing. Astellas’ buyout of Xyphos gave it a technology for making cell therapies.
Deals with Poseida Therapeutics and now Kelonia are focused off-the-shelf cellular medicines, meanwhile.
In a recent interview, chief scientific officer Yoshitsugu Shitaka said Astellas had experienced some setbacks developing such therapies. But the company thinks it has solved those problems and hopes to have multiple programs in human trials in a couple of years, he said. The company has more than half a dozen prospects in preclinical testing.
“The ultimate goal is to create several programs for solid tumors,” Shitaka said.
The partnership is the first major collaboration for Kelonia, which launched in 2022 with $50 million in Series A funding and is backed by investors Alta Ventures, Horizons Ventures and Venrock. Aside from its work with Astellas, the company is also developing a cell therapy for multiple myeloma. The startup presented preclinical results at a medical meeting last year.
Ben Fidler contributed reporting.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that Kelonia’s medicines, while designed to be “off the shelf,” are not allogeneic.
