Cellectis Sells Swedish Subsidiary Cellectis AB To Takara Bio
By Cyndi Root
Cellectis announced in a press release that it has sold its Swedish subsidiary Cellectis AB to Takara Bio, a Japanese company. The sale, to be finalized soon, allows Cellectis to refocus on oncology therapies and its Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CART) immunotherapy products. Cellectis is currently partnered with Servier, Pfizer, and Accelera, a contract research organization (CRO), on CART technology. Cellectis also recently announced an agreement with European CELLforCURE to manufacture clinical batches of Cellectis’ CART cells. The sale is part of Cellectis’ restructuring effort.
Cellectis AB Sale
Takara Bio focuses on genetic engineering technologies. Its Bioindustry business introduced a gene amplification system called PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) and it supplies reagents, instruments, and contract research services. Buying Cellectis AB will provide Takara with assets for its Gene Therapy business. Cellectis did not disclose the terms of the sale but disclosed that the transaction would lead to a € 5 million ($6.7 million) loss.
Cellectis Reorganization
The sale of Cellectis AB is part of Cellectis’ restructuring effort, which began in 2013. A market downturn in its “Tools and Services” Business Unit caused an operating loss of €14 million that year. To begin the reorganization, Cellectis announced a new and simplified legal structure for its Cellectis bioresearch unit by merging it with Ectycell, which develops, produces, and markets pluripotent stem cells. The new structure simplified the activities and lowered costs by locating Cellectis bioresearch and Ectycell at a single production facility.
This most recent move aims to improve Cellectis’ equity position and should enable it to better compete with companies in the U.S. and Japan.
Cellectis R&D Efforts
In June 2014, Cellectis announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave a favorable recommendation for UCART19 in leukemias and lymphomas. Cellectis and Accelera will be conducting preclinical studies for UCART19.
The company also recently entered into a partnership with Pfizer for the joint development of over 20 CART immunotherapies. CELLforCURE will manufacture clinical batches of Cellectis’ allogeneic CART cells.
In addition to working with Pfizer, Accelera, and CELLforCURE, Cellectis is currently engaged in business with Thermo Fisher Scientific. Cellectis has agreed to grant Thermo Fisher Scientific a worldwide license for TAL nucleases under the brand name TALEN. Thermo Fisher was also granted sublicense authority for research and development, bioproduction, and marketing while Cellectis retains rights for research and development and for commercialization of TAL gene editing services. Cellectis also has the right to sublicense the products for therapeutic uses.