Kite and Epic Bio Announce Collaboration to Develop New Therapies for Cancer

Kite, a Gilead Company and Epicrispr Biotechnologies announced the companies have entered into a research collaboration and license agreement using Epic Bio’s proprietary gene regulation platform to develop next-generation cancer cell therapies. The agreement will allow Kite to leverage the licensed technology to modulate certain genes to potentially enhance CAR T-cell functionality.

“Cell-based cancer immunotherapies have reshaped modern cancer care, but we have still only scratched the surface of their potential benefit for patients. At Kite, we are committed to developing next generation CAR T-cell therapies with the goal of reaching more patients with cancer who could benefit,” said David Barrett, Vice President of Cell Biology and Translational Medicine at Kite. “We look forward to collaborating with Epic Bio with the goal of further advancing today’s cell therapies and potentially expanding their reach and impact on patients.”

“We are proud to partner with Kite to extend the potential application of Epic Bio’s platform for cancer treatment. Epic Bio’s approach is not only promising for in vivo medicines, but may also enable next-generation cell therapies to reach a wide range of patient populations,” said Amber Salzman, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Epic Bio. “We look forward to applying our expertise in gene modulation to help advance CAR T-cell therapies.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Epic Bio will develop constructs for Kite-selected targets for use in CAR T-cell therapies directed to blood cancers. Kite will make an upfront payment to Epic Bio and Epic Bio will be eligible to receive performance-based development, regulatory and sales milestone payments. Epic Bio is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on any approved products that result from the collaboration.

The transaction with Epic Bio is expected to have a de minimis financial impact on Gilead’s 2023 GAAP and non-GAAP EPS.