Pregene, Kite partner on next-gen therapies in potential $1.64B deal
On October 16, Shenzhen Pregene Biopharma Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "Pregene") has entered into a License and Collaboration Agreement with Kite, a Gilead company, (hereinafter referred to as "Kite") to support and accelerate the research and development of next-generation in vivo therapies. This global collaboration aims to streamline the path from discovery to clinical development for in vivo therapies with the goal of delivering potentially life-changing medicines to patients sooner and more efficiently.
Under the agreement, Pregene has the right to and has received an upfront payment totaling $120 million. Additionally, upon achieving specific milestones, Pregene is eligible to receive up to $1.52 billion in various milestone payments, as well as royalties based on future product net sales.
"We are excited to collaborate with Kite to help advance their efforts in delivering next generation in vivo therapies to patients," said Dr. Zhang Jishuai, CSO and one of the cofounders of Pregene Biopharma. "By combining Kite's cell therapy expertise with our respective strengths at Pregene, we aim to overcome technical barriers, accelerate proof-of-concept studies, and bring transformative medicines to patients faster, especially in oncology, autoimmune diseases and other areas where innovation is urgently needed.”
About Pregene
Pregene is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of novel cell therapies with industry-leading cell and lentivirus manufacturing processes and technology. Leveraging its proprietary high-throughput CAR-T/CAR-NK/TCR-T drug priority platform, and proprietary cell and lentivirus manufacturing processes, Pregene is developing a rich clinical-stage pipeline of multiple autologous and allogeneic C&G therapy and biologics product candidates.