Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. has entered into a research collaboration and exclusive license agreement with Poseida Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: PSTX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company utilizing proprietary genetic engineering platform technologies to create cell and gene therapeutics with the capacity to cure, to utilize Poseida’s piggyBac, Cas-CLOVER, biodegradable DNA and RNA nanoparticle delivery technology and other proprietary genetic engineering platforms for the research and development of up to eight gene therapies. The collaboration will focus on developing non-viral in vivo gene therapy programs, including Poseida’s Hemophilia A program.
“We are excited to partner with Takeda, a global biopharmaceutical leader whose commitment to the development of novel therapies for rare diseases complements our innovative platform technologies and robust gene therapy pipeline,” said Eric Ostertag, M.D., chief executive officer of Poseida. “Our technologies offer highly efficient gene delivery, fully integrated non-viral genome insertion and ultra-precise site-specific gene editing. Together with Takeda, we look forward to developing potential cures for a number of genetic diseases with high unmet need.”
Under the terms of the agreement, the parties will collaborate to initially develop up to six in vivo gene therapy programs utilizing Poseida’s novel technology platforms including piggyBac, Cas-CLOVER and biodegradable nanoparticle technology, as well as certain emerging technologies. Poseida will receive an upfront payment of $45 million and preclinical milestones that together could potentially exceed $125 million in the aggregate, if milestones for six programs are achieved.
“Poseida’s differentiated platform technologies show great promise in developing non-viral in vivo gene therapies using their novel genetic engineering and delivery technologies that complement our existing collaborations,” said Takeda rare diseases drug discovery unit head, Madhu Natarajan. “This partnership reinforces Takeda’s commitment to investing in next-generation gene therapy approaches that have the potential to deliver functional cures to patients with rare genetic and hematologic diseases. We look forward to partnering with Poseida where we can apply our broad development capabilities to help progress several early stage preclinical programs.”