Kite, a Gilead Company, and Sangamo Therapeutics, have entered into a worldwide collaboration using Sangamo’s gene-editing technology to develop cancer treatments in a deal potentially worth about $3 billion to Sangamo.
Kite will use Richmond, California-based Sangamo’s zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technology platform to modify genes to develop next-generation cell therapies for autologous and allogeneic use in treating different cancers.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sangamo will receive an upfront payment of $150 million and is eligible to receive up to $3.01 billion in potential payments, aggregated across 10 or more products utilizing Sangamo’s technology, based on the achievement of certain research, development, regulatory and successful commercialization milestones
Foster City, California-based Gilead bought Kite for $12 billion last year to get access to an emerging class of cancer immunotherapies called CAR-T. Gilead indicated earlier this year it would pursue collaborations with companies for gene-editing technology.
Read the press release