{"id":38026,"date":"2019-12-27T11:44:34","date_gmt":"2019-12-27T16:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencebusiness.technewslit.com\/?p=38026"},"modified":"2019-12-28T11:08:50","modified_gmt":"2019-12-28T16:08:50","slug":"synthetic-bio-cancer-immunotherapy-company-acquired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/technewslit.com\/sciencebusiness\/?p=38026","title":{"rendered":"Synthetic Bio Cancer Immunotherapy Company Acquired"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Natural killer cell (NIAID, Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

27 Dec. 2019. A biotechnology company creating synthetic proteins that invoke the immune system to fight cancer is being acquired by drug maker Astellas Pharma. The deal with Astellas Pharma Inc.<\/a>, in Tokyo, is expected to bring shareholders of Xyphos Biosciences<\/a>, in South San Francisco, California as much as $665 million if all aspects of the agreement are fulfilled.<\/p>\n

Xyphos Biosciences, a three year-old company<\/a>, develops synthetic proteins<\/a> based on natural human receptor proteins known as NKG2D<\/a>. These proteins appear on the surface of natural killer and T-cells in the immune system, and are considered key receptors for detecting and fighting damaged or pathogen-infected cells, including tumor cells. The Xyphos technology<\/a>, called Advanced Cellular Control through Engineered Ligands or Accel, takes little-used ligands, or connector molecules, in NKG2D proteins and modifies their chemistry to provide highly specific targets, while deactivating other ligands.<\/p>\n

The Xyphos technology then adds immunotherapy proteins that invoke the immune system to find and kill cancer cells. Among these immunotherapies are T-cells in the immune system with chimeric antigen receptors<\/a> added, called CAR T-cells, to target tumor tissue. Xyphos says that unlike earlier CAR T-cells, its engineered CAR T-cells are more precisely targeted and controlled, with longer life cycles in the body and fewer adverse effects. All of the company’s therapy candidates<\/a> are either in preclinical or discovery stages.<\/p>\n

Astellas has a number of cancer drug candidates<\/a>, including immunotherapies, in clinical trials, but plans to use the Xyphos\/Accel technology to develop a new type of cancer treatments. “The innovative technology in development at Xyphos,” says Kenji Yasukawa<\/span>, president and CEO of Astellas in a company statement<\/a>, “fits perfectly in advancing our immuno-oncology strategy to create and deliver value for patients. Combining this technology with our capabilities in cell therapy that we have been working on so far, we can create next-generation high-function cells and maximize the value of our technology.”<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, Xyphos becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Astellas. Xyphos is receiving an initial payment of $120 million from Astellas, with additional milestone payments of $545 million expected.<\/p>\n

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