Roche announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Poseida Therapeutics, Inc, a public clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering donor-derived CAR-T cell therapies. Based in San Diego, California, Poseida’s R&D portfolio includes pre-clinical and clinical-stage off-the-shelf (also referred to as allogeneic) CAR-T therapies across several therapeutic areas including haematological malignancies, solid tumours, and autoimmune disease, as well as manufacturing capabilities and technology platforms.
The acquisition builds on the existing partnership between Roche and Poseida following the collaboration and licence agreement established in 2022, which focuses on developing off-the-shelf CAR-T cell therapies to address medical needs of patients with haematological malignancies.
The joint vision of Poseida, Roche and Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, is to deliver the next generation of off-the-shelf CAR-T cell therapies with increased potency and favourable safety at a scale that can potentially reach more patients and enable broad commercial use.
“This exciting acquisition will allow us to drive further progress in allogeneic cell therapy while leveraging the successful existing partnership with Poseida,” said Levi Garraway, Head of Product Development and Chief Medical Officer at Roche. “We are very encouraged by the early clinical data, and this acquisition builds on our joint progress to catalyse the development of potentially first and best-in-class cell therapies in oncology, immunology and neurology.”
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About the Poseida Programmes and Pipeline
Assets in the current collaboration:
- The lead programme, P-BCMA-ALLO1, is an allogeneic CAR-T therapy targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA). P-BCMA-ALLO1 has received Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (MM) after three or more prior lines of therapies, and FDA Orphan Drug Designation for MM. Early clinical data have been reported in September at the International Myeloma Society annual meeting (Poseida PR).
- A second clinical programme in Phase 1 is P-CD19CD20-ALLO1, an allogeneic dual CAR-T in B-cell malignancies. Building on the transformative potential of the CAR-T modality beyond oncology, FDA INDs have been recently filed to investigate this programme’s potential for patients with multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus.
- An additional allogeneic, dual CAR-T programme targeting known antigens expressed in haematologic malignancies (Poseida PR) has been initiated.
Upon closing of the transaction, Roche will obtain access to Poseida’s GMP manufacturing capabilities and other R&D portfolio assets, as well as their know-how and expertise, including:
- P-MUC1C-ALLO1, an allogeneic CAR-T programme currently in Phase 1 in solid tumours.
- Genomic medicine pre-clinical candidates as well as related technologies.
Current Poseida employees will join the Roche Group as part of Roche’s Pharmaceuticals Division.
“Our interest in cell therapy is directly tied to our commitment to discovering and developing pioneering medicines with substantial patient benefit,” said Aviv Regev, Head of Genentech Research & Early Development. “We are excited to bring together cutting-edge scientific approaches and expertise to tap into the full transformative potential of cell therapy.”
SOURCE: GlobeNewswire