On December 26th, AstraZeneca announced that it had signed a final agreement on its acquisition proposal for Genxi Biotechnology. This proposed acquisition will add GC012F CAR-T cell therapy to AstraZeneca's cell therapy pipeline, further deepening its layout in the field of cell therapy.
AstraZeneca introduced that GC012F, based on the FasTCAR technology platform, is an innovative BCMA/CD19 dual target autochimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy (CAR-T) in the clinical stage, which is expected to become a new generation treatment plan for multiple myeloma, other types of malignant hematological tumors, and autoimmune diseases (including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)).
It is reported that the principle of autologous CAR-T cell therapy is to re edit and modify the patient's own immune T cells to target pathogenic cells for disease treatment. The production and preparation process is complex and time-consuming. The FasTCAR next-day production technology platform of Genxi Biotechnology can not only significantly shorten production time, but also enhance the health status of T cells, which is expected to improve the effectiveness of autologous CAR-T therapy. This technology is also expected to be applied in the treatment of rare diseases in the future.
AstraZeneca's Global Executive Vice President and Head of Research and Development in the Field of Cancer Therapy, Gao Shucan, stated that the company has established CAR-T and TCR-T pipelines for solid tumors. The acquisition of Genxi Biotechnology will further strengthen AstraZeneca's strength in the field of cell therapy. GC012F will help the company accelerate its strategy of laying out cell therapy in the field of blood tumors, and is expected to provide potential treatment options for blood tumor patients with similar differentiated production.
After the acquisition is completed, Genxi Biotechnology will continue to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca in China and the United States.