Gilead Sciences to Acquire Cell Design Labs
December 07 2017 - 5:00PM
– Demonstrates Gilead’s Deep Commitment to
Cell Therapy –
Cell Design Labs, Inc., a privately-held biotechnology company
developing disruptive CAR-T and T cell receptor (TCR) therapies,
announced today that Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq:GILD) has agreed
to acquire Cell Design Labs in a structured buy out valued for up
to $567 million, including the shares of Cell Design Labs held by
Kite.
According to Brian Atwood, President and CEO of Cell Design
Labs, Inc., “Bringing our robust technology platforms under the
Gilead umbrella, with its outstanding research and development
capabilities and commitment to innovation, provides an exciting
path forward for the development of the next generation of living
therapies for patients with cancer.”
“We have been working with Cell Design Labs for almost 18
months, and truly appreciate the groundbreaking nature of their
technology platforms,” commented David D. Chang, M.D., Ph.D.,
Worldwide Head of Research and Development and Chief Medical
Officer at Kite. “We’ve already integrated THROTTLE™ Switch into
our CAR-T pipeline and look forward to exploring the full depth and
breadth of the technologies of Gilead, Kite and Cell Design Labs to
expand the cell therapy toolbox.”
“As early investors in Cell Design Labs, we recognized the
incredible power and promise of the technology platforms,”
commented Beth Seidenberg, M.D., General Partner at Kleiner Perkins
and Director of Cell Design Labs. “We believe that bringing Cell
Design Labs together with Gilead provides the potential for a
disruptive new wave of cell therapies for cancer.”
Peter Emtage, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer said, “We are on
the cusp of a new era in medicine where we are able to precisely
instruct and guide immune cells to recognize and eliminate disease.
We are pioneering two very powerful and promising technologies that
we believe have the ability to change the therapeutic landscape
significantly.”
Since its founding in 2016, Cell Design Labs has raised $34.4
million. Cell Design Labs’ investors, led by Kleiner Perkins, also
included Kite, Osage Ventures, Mission Bay Ventures, Brian Atwood,
President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Cell Design
Labs, Kite founder and member of the Cell Design Labs Board of
Directors, Arie Belldegrun, M.D., as well as other investors with
significant experience in biopharmaceutical
innovation.
Citi acted as financial advisor and Cooley LLP acted as legal
advisor to Cell Design Labs in connection with the transaction.
About Cell Design Labs’ Technology
The company’s technology is based on foundational platforms for
discovering and developing new cell-based therapeutics. These
include synNotch™ receptors and THROTTLE Switch™ modules:
synNotch™ Receptors
By re-engineering the external and internal portions of the
naturally occurring Notch receptor, and engineering these unique
constructs into a patient’s immune cells, the patient’s T cells can
be instructed to detect new molecular targets and to turn on new
genes. In addition, further modifications of the synNotch scaffold
can enable diverse sensing and response behaviors. By expressing
synNotch receptors in T cells, it is possible to create a
programmable immune cell. When this reprogrammed cell binds to its
sole intended target (i.e., a cancer cell), it triggers one or more
specific molecular activities: locally modulating tumor defense
mechanisms, delivering drugs such as checkpoint inhibitors,
inducing a customized cytokine profile to supercharge the immune
system, or encouraging T cells to differentiate into specific
subtypes to convey long-term protection against cancer recurrence.
With this approach, the synNotch receptor confers extremely
versatile sense-and-response functionality to T cells, which
already have the ability to migrate throughout the body to find
targets.
THROTTLE Switch™ Modules
The company’s proprietary THROTTLE Switch technology allows
CAR-T cells to be turned on and off repeatedly, enabling them to be
better tolerated and more effective. This is achieved by splitting
a standard CAR-T molecule construct into two separate, and
inactive, molecular components and cloning these into a patient’s T
cell, resulting in the CAR-T cell existing in an “off” state. Only
in the presence of an FDA-approved small molecule drug will the two
components come together – closing the “switch” - into an active
state, seeking out and eliminating cancer cells. With this type of
control-switch CAR-T cells, physicians can rapidly and precisely
control the activity and safety of CAR-T cells.
About Cell Design Labs, Inc.
Cell Design Labs is a biotherapeutics company pioneering
breakthrough science to develop disruptive cell-based therapies.
Based on innovative research from Dr. Wendell Lim’s lab at UC San
Francisco, Cell Design Labs leverages the power of the body’s
immune system to develop smart living therapies. Initially focused
on cancer, including both hematologic and solid tumors, this broad
technology may also have applications in other complex diseases. To
learn more about Cell Design Labs, please visit our web site at:
www.celldesignlabs.com.
synNotch and THROTTLE Switch are trademarks of Cell Design Labs,
Inc.
About Gilead Sciences
Gilead Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company that
discovers, develops and commercializes innovative therapeutics in
areas of unmet medical need. The company’s mission is to advance
the care of patients suffering from life-threatening diseases.
Gilead has operations in more than 30 countries worldwide, with
headquarters in Foster City, California.
Contacts
Angela Bitting (media)925-202-6211
Julie Wood (investors)925-818-3456
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