UK pharma giant AstraZeneca on Monday unveiled another $140 million equity investment in cell and gene therapy partner Cellectis.
AstraZeneca now owns 44% of Cellectis’ share capital and has 30% of the partner’s voting rights. Two AstraZeneca leaders, Alexion CEO Marc Dunoyer and corporate development executive director Tyrell Rivers, are also now on Cellectis’ board.
AstraZeneca’s investment in its Paris-based partner was previously planned, the companies said Monday morning.
In November 2023, AstraZeneca paid $25 million upfront and made an $80 million equity investment in the French and US biotech for a 22% stake. A month later, Cellectis took its CAR-T manufacturing in-house.
Cellectis is using its gene editing technology to find up to 25 targets for AstraZeneca.
The UK pharma can snag worldwide exclusive licenses on up to 10 of those for cell and gene therapies in oncology, immunology and rare diseases. Each of those comes with biobucks in the range of $70 million to $220 million. The higher end is roughly equal to Cellectis’ current market cap of $215 million.