Poseida Therapeutics has signed a research collaboration and license agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company to develop up to eight in vivo gene therapy programmes.
They will focus on the research and development of non-viral in vivo gene therapy programmes, including Poseida’s Hemophilia A programme.
Under the deal, the companies will initially develop up to six in vivo gene therapies, using Poseida’s Cas-CLOVER site-specific gene editing system, non-viral piggyBac DNA modification system, and biodegradable DNA and RNA nanoparticle technology.
They will also use other proprietary genetic engineering platforms.
Additionally, Takeda has an option to add two more programmes and provide funding for all research-and-development costs.
Takeda Rare Diseases Drug Discovery Unit head Madhu Natarajan said: “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.
“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.”
As per the terms of the agreement, Poseida will receive $45m in upfront payment as well as preclinical milestones that could be more than $125m in total if the milestones for six programmes are achieved.
The company is also eligible for future clinical development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments of up to $2.7bn for six programmes and up to $3.6bn for all the eight programmes.
Poseida stated that it will lead the research activities up to candidate selection, while Takeda will develop and commercialise the programmes.