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Originally announced in December 2022, Arcellx, Inc. and Kite, a Gilead Company have now further expanded their existing collaboration. Arcellx is to receive a $200M equity investment at $61.68 per share and an $85 million upfront cash payment.
Last year (December 2022), the companies formed a global strategic collaboration to co-develop and co-commercialize Arcellx’s CART-ddBCMA candidate intended for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.
They have now announced further development in this collaboration.
“We are pleased to see the momentum with the CART-ddBCMA multiple myeloma program, enabling Kite to enter an area of high unmet need and bring a new, potentially best-in-class cell therapy to patients,” said Cindy Perettie, Executive Vice President of Kite.
CART-ddBCMA is currently in a pivotal Phase II study. Kite and Arcellx will jointly advance and commercialize the CART-ddBCMA asset in the United States, and Kite will commercialize the product outside the U.S.
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“Since entering into this strategic collaboration with Kite almost one year ago, we are thrilled with how the partnership is rapidly progressing and the alignment across our teams,” expressed Rami Elghandour, Arcellx’s Chairman and CEO.
Kite has decided to exercise its option to negotiate a license for Arcellx’s ARC-SparX program, ACLX-001, in multiple myeloma. ACLX-001 is comprised of ARC-T cells and SparX proteins that target BCMA. The companies have also expanded the capacity of the collaboration for Arcellx’s CART-ddBCMA to include lymphomas.
“We are excited to deepen our relationship with Kite as they continue to invest in our platform by exercising their rights to our ACLX-001 ARC-SparX program in multiple myeloma and increasing their investment in our company.”
Upon closing, Arcellx will receive a $200 million equity investment to purchase 3,242,542 shares of its common stock. As a result, the purchase of the share is expected to extend the Arcellx’s cash runway into 2027. Gilead’s estimated ownership will be 13%. Additionally, Arcellx will receive an upfront non-dilutive cash payment of $85 million at closing and will be eligible for potential milestone payments. This also includes the advancement of lymphoma and the license for ARC-SparX, as well as additional milestones, to offset prespecified development costs over a limited period.
“With this additional investment from Kite, our strengthened cash position is anticipated to extend our runway into 2027, as we advance towards commercializing CART-ddBCMA,” continued Elghandour. “[…] We look forward to sharing data from our CART-ddBCMA Phase 1 trial at ASH in December.”
The transaction is expected to close around year-end 2023.
“Helping as many cancer patients as possible serves as the core of our collaboration,” stated Elghandour. “With the deep and durable responses demonstrated in our CART-ddBCMA Phase 1 trial in multiple myeloma, we believe that our novel synthetic binder, the D-Domain, underscores the potential to engineer a new class of CAR T therapies.”
Source: Arcellx Press Release
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