Takeda and Alloy Therapeutics have announced a new partnership to accelerate the development of advanced cancer therapies using innovative stem cell technology.
The companies will focus on Takeda’s proprietary induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T and CAR-NK platforms, known as iCAR-T and iCAR-NK. These platforms aim to improve treatment options for both solid tumours and blood cancers.
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iPSCs are special cells that can be reprogrammed to act similarly to stem cells, capable of turning into almost any cell type in the body. Takeda’s iCAR-T and iCAR-NK platforms use iPSCs to create immune cells engineered to target and destroy cancer. Unlike traditional CAR-T therapies – which are custom-made for each patient using their own cells – iCAR-T and iCAR-NK therapies are designed to be “off-the-shelf”.
This means they can be produced in advance and used for multiple patients, making treatment faster, more accessible, and less expensive to manufacture.
Through this partnership, Alloy gains co-exclusive rights to develop and commercialise iCAR-T and iCAR-NK therapies for cancer treatment. Alloy will also share the technology with its biotech and pharmaceutical partners to expand its use in developing therapies for various types of cancer, including difficult-to-treat solid tumours. Alloy is establishing a Japanese subsidiary to focus on cell therapy development to support these efforts.
This deal isn’t the first pact that Alloy has made with big pharma. In May 2024, Alloy licensed its ATX-Gx and ATX-CLC murine platforms to Eli Lilly, providing tools for fully human antibody discovery. These platforms aim to simplify and accelerate therapeutic development. The partnership also integrates Alloy’s technology with Lilly’s Catalyze360 programme, which supports biotech startups by offering drug discovery tools, lab space, and R&D expertise.
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By GlobalDataThe iCAR-T platform was originally developed through a collaboration between Takeda and Kyoto University’s Center for iPS Research and Application (CiRA). The first CAR-T cell therapy created via the collaboration entered process development toward clinical testing in 2018, according to a company announcement that year.
It hasn’t always been a smooth journey for Takeda in the oncology sector. Earlier this year, the Japanese pharma axed three early-stage CAR-T cell therapy prospects from its R&D pipeline. However, Takeda’s R&D president Andrew Plump said that the company “remains committed to oncology and will continue to develop therapies across haematologic and solid tumours”, in a February 2024 quarterly results call with investors.
Takeda demonstrated this commitment by signing a deal exceeding $1.2bn with US-based Kumquat Biosciences in April 2024 to develop an unnamed immuno-oncology small molecule inhibitor.
Several other biotechs have dipped their toes into the iPSC space. In September 2024, GC Therapeutics (GCTx) raised a $65m Series A funding round to deliver its off-the-shelf iPSC-based medicines. In August 2023, New York-based BlueRock Therapeutics signed a collaboration and option agreement with bit.bio to discover and manufacture iPSC-derived regulatory T cell-based therapies. bit.bio has its own opti-ox precision cell programming technology, which is used for controlling the expression of transcription factor combinations within cell therapies.
