Astellas Pharma Inc. has announced that Xyphos Biosciences, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Astellas and Poseida have signed a research collaboration and license agreement to develop novel convertibleCAR programs by combining the innovative cell therapy platforms from each of the companies.

Poseida is advancing differentiated cell and gene therapies with the capacity to cure certain cancers and rare diseases. In oncology, its pipeline includes allogeneic CAR-T cell therapy product candidates for both solid and liquid tumors that address patient populations with high unmet medical needs.

Xyphos utilizes a novel and proprietary ACCELTM technology platform that uses its convertibleCAR (convertible Chimeric Antigen Receptor) in combination with proprietary MicAbodies to target tumor cells.

Under the terms of the agreement, the companies plan to combine Poseida's proprietary allogeneic CAR-T platform with Xyphos' ACCELTM technology to create one Poseida-developed CAR-T construct to form the basis of two convertibleCAR product candidates targeting solid tumors. Xyphos will reimburse Poseida for costs incurred as part of the research agreement and will be responsible for the development and future commercialization of products generated from the collaboration. Poseida will receive USD 50 million upfront plus potential development and sales milestones and contingency payments of up to USD 550 million in total. Additionally, Poseida is eligible for up to low double-digit tiered royalties as a percentage of net sales.

Kristin Yarema, Ph.D., President and CEO of Poseida said, "We are excited to expand our relationship with Astellas, where we share a vision that cutting edge, off-the-shelf cell therapies can address significant unmet needs of patients with solid tumor malignancies. Today's agreement further reinforces the economic value of Poseida's highly differentiated non-viral technologies and enables development in areas beyond our core pipeline focus. It also highlights Poseida's role as the partner of choice in allogeneic CAR-T."

Adam Pearson, Chief Strategy Officer (CStO) of Astellas said, "At Astellas, we have a strong commitment to developing novel treatments for patients with cancer and have positioned Immuno-Oncology as a Primary Focus of our R&D strategy. By leveraging our extensive expertise, experience in cancer biology and unique technologies, we are focused on reinvigorating the immune system's ability to discover, disarm and destroy cancers in more patients. By combining the ACCELTM platform with Poseida's elegant and cutting-edge genetic editing platforms, we believe the collaboration will bring synergies between the two companies' breakthrough research and will ultimately lead to the expansion of Astellas' portfolio and to the delivery of innovative CAR-T cell therapies to cancer patients."