ZIOPHARM, Intrexon Ink CAR T Deal with MD Anderson - Analyst Blog
ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.’s (ZIOP) shares shot up almost 55% immediately after the company and its partner Intrexon Corporation (XON) – a leader in synthetic biology – announced a broad exclusive licensing agreement with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (a top cancer care and research center) focused on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell, T cell receptor (TCR) cells and natural killer (NK) cell programs and associated technologies for the development of non-viral adoptive cellular therapies.
The deal includes an exclusive sublicensing agreement through MD Anderson for intellectual property developed at the University of Minnesota related to the development of non-viral adoptive cellular cancer immunotherapies.
Intrexon gained 31.5% on the news. Shares of both companies however slid 10.1% since the announcement.
Terms of the Deal
As per the agreement terms, MD Anderson will be entitled to receive a consideration of $100 million – $50 million each from Intrexon and ZIOPHARM, payable in shares of their respective common stock. In addition to this, MD Anderson will receive an annual payment of $15–$20 million over a period of three years on research and development of the technologies. Moreover, the companies will enter into additional collaboration and technology transfer agreements in order to expedite technology and clinical development.
Under the collaboration, up to five CARs are expected to enter the clinic in 2015 with off-the-shelf programs expected to start in 2016.
Intrexon’s technology suite and ZIOPHARM’s clinically tested RheoSwitch Therapeutic System interleukin-12 modules will be used in the agreement.
We note that CAR T cell therapies have been attracting a lot of attention lately with pharmaceutical and biotech majors eyeing an entry into this therapeutic area.
Earlier in the month, Amgen (AMGN) entered into a strategic research collaboration and license agreement with Kite Pharma, Inc. (KITE) for the development and commercialization of the next generation of CAR T cell immunotherapies using Kite Pharma’s engineered autologous cell therapy platform and Amgen's cancer targets.
Currently, both ZIOPHARM and Intrexon carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the biotech sector is Amgen carrying a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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