In a recent move, AstraZeneca has agreed to the acquisition of EsoBiotec – the Belgian biotech company for almost $1 billion.
Apparently, the deal happens to focus on the development of in vivo cell therapies that happen to utilize the Engineered NanoBody Lentiviral – EnaBL platform from EsoBiotec. It is well to be noted that Esobiotec is going to receive an initial payment of $425 million once the deal gets closed. In addition to this, there would be another $575 million that will be based on regulatory as well as development milestones.
Their platform helps the cell therapies to be administered by way of an IV injection and does not need any sort of immune cell depletion. Through engineering cells in vivo – which is directly from the patient’s body, cell therapy treatments can get delivered in a matter of minutes instead of weeks, which, by the way, is the present process as far as such therapies are concerned, said EsoBiotec. All this enables us to overcome major challenges within the field, like slashing the timelines of manufacturing and also enhancing access to patients.
An Option To Scale Up Cell Therapies That Are Innovative
According to AstraZeneca’s EVP at the Oncology Haematology R&D, Susan Galbraith, they are excited for this acquisition of EsoBiotec as it gives them the opportunity to swiftly advance their in vivo platform, which looks very promising. They happen to believe that it has the capacity to transform cell therapy, and this will allow them to scale such innovative treatments just so that many more patients across the world can have their access.
This transaction is anticipated to close in the second quarter of 2025; however, it will be subject to the desired closing conditions along with regulatory clearances.
Investments Made by AstraZeneca in Recent Times
AstraZeneca also announced an investment amounting to $3.5 billion in the US in November 2024, which, as a matter of fact, aligned with the objective to elevate its research and manufacturing imprint by the end of 2026. The multi-billion-dollar pledge, in addition to AstraZeneca’s $570 million investment proposal in Canada in January 2025, goes on to support the company’s goal to achieve $80 when it comes to total revenue by the end of 2030.
