Celdara Medical, LLC today announced that it has successfully concluded negotiations with Celyad SA (Euronext Brussels and Paris, and NASDAQ:CYAD) related to their ongoing partnership for discovery and development of CAR T cell therapies.
Celyad, a Belgium-based cell therapy company, obtained access to its CAR T cell drug product candidates and related technology in 2015 through its acquisition of OnCyte, LLC, a spin-out from Celdara Medical. This portfolio included three autologous CAR T cell therapy products and an allogeneic T cell platform. Following encouraging initial results of the THINK trial, which have led to increased confidence in the long-term potential of Celyad’s CAR T assets, the parties have amended their existing agreements.
Dr. Jake Reder, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Celdara Medical, remarked, “There was an obvious opportunity to create value – for patients, as well as for each of the parties involved – by updating and amending our agreements. The updates provide Celyad with additional flexibility in structuring deals that can both accelerate development of their own drug candidates and enable the entire field in the development of allogeneic therapies. As we have learned more about the unique benefits of CAR T cell therapies in general, and this portfolio in particular, we’ve only become more enthusiastic about the many powerful opportunities to improve human health.”
Celyad’s most advanced CAR T cell product called, CYAD-01, an autologous therapy employing an NKG2D CAR, is currently in multiple US and EU clinical trials against both solid and hematologic cancers.