Juno Therapeutics increases its cancer treating T-cell research by acquiring Harvard spinout Abvitro, which focuses on diseases resistant to the immune system.
Juno Therapeutics, a US-based cancer immunotherapy developer, has acquired Harvard University biotechnology spinout Abvitro for approximately $125m, according to Forbes.
The acquisition took the form of $78m in cash and nearly 1.3 million shares of Juno stock.
Abvitro focuses on illnesses that do not have a known antigen target, a characteristic that means the diseases are not attacked by the body’s immune system.
As part of the acquisition, Abvitro’s scientists will be relocated to Seattle.
Juno Therapeutics, which completed an IPO in January 2015 and was backed by investors including Arch Venture Partners, creates immune system T-cells that target and destroy specific types of cancer.
Juno hopes the acquisition of Abvitro will help it augment its technology to target more types of cancer, specifically solid tumours such as those seen the in lung, breast and prostate.
Hy Levitsky, chief scientific officer for Juno, said: “We remain highly encouraged by the potential of our engineered T-cell technology to impact the lives of cancer patients, and this technology improves our capabilities to extend our platform to a broader array of cancer types including solid tumours. We are highly impressed with the quality of the science at Abvitro, and we are delighted to welcome this world-class team to Juno.”
François Vigneault, co-founder and former chief scientific officer at Abvitro and current vice-president of research at Juno, said: “The technology platform we built at Abvitro represents an exciting, novel approach to the understanding of immune responses and the discovery of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes and their antigen targets.”
