Another CD20/CD3 bispecific is entering the fold, except this time for autoimmune diseases.
Prolific biotech creator Third Rock Ventures and Arie Belldegrun’s Two River have joined forces to create a new company to test a CD20/CD3 bispecific T cell engager for autoimmune diseases.
The biotech incubators and investors are getting access to the asset, dubbed GB261, from China-based Genor Biopharma.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed biotech unveiled a deal on Monday in which it receives “double-digit million US dollars” upfront and could get up to $443 million in milestones, plus tiered single-to-double-digit royalties. Genor also gets a “significant equity participation” in the license.
Doling out those payments is TRC 2004, Inc., a company co-founded by Third Rock and Two River, which was behind Kite Pharma, the cell therapy company bought by Gilead for $11.9 billion.
TRC nabs the exclusive worldwide license to GB261 save for mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, according to a regulatory filing.
While GB261 has gone through an open-label Phase 1/2 in China and Australia for certain cancers, the Monday collaboration will “mainly focus” on its “potential in autoimmune diseases.” Other CD20/CD3 treatments have been approved in cancers, including Genentech’s Columvi and Epkinly from AbbVie and Genmab.
“Results have shown a highly favorable safety and efficacy profile,” Genor wrote in its regulatory filing. “GB261 has been shown, for example, to induce significantly less cytokine release (CRS), compared with other compounds in the same class.”