AstraZeneca’s $1B EsoBiotec Acquisition Could Change the Future of Cancer Treatment

The deal is the latest acquisition move of AstraZeneca, the largest healthcare company in Britain, as the pharma company plans to grow its roots globally.  

AstraZeneca has shaken hands with Belgian biotech company EsoBiotec to buy them for $1 billion, seeking to advance its cell therapy capabilities, particularly for cancer.

EsoBiotec is a small, privately held company that develops in-vivo CAR-T cell therapies that enable the immune system to fight against tumours.

For decades, cancer treatment was so complex, involving high dosages of medicines and surgery. But thanks to advancements in the medical field, companies like EsoBiotec can provide cell therapy so effortlessly.

EsoBiotec uses highly targeted lentiviruses to transfer genetic instructions to specific immune cells, like T-cells, and train them to identify and destroy tumour cells to treat cancer or tackle autoreactive cells, which target the body’s tissues or cells to treat autoimmune diseases. It means that cell therapies can done through a simple injection.

The deal is the latest acquisition move of AstraZeneca, the largest healthcare company in Britain, valued at £184 billion, as the pharma company plans to grow its roots globally.  

Just like people call the human body’s remarkable healing tendency a ‘medical miracle.’ It is a miracle that cancer treatment is available to everyone now.

Jean-Pierre Latere, CEO of EsoBiotec, states that they are inexpensive, off-the-shelf treatments that modify immune cells in the patient’s body, making them super-effective. He jokes that it will turn the patient into a factory.

Jean started his career as a senior scientist at the US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson, then worked for the US chemical manufacturer Dow Corning and as chief operating officer (COO) of Belgian biotech start-up Celyad Oncology before founding the company four years ago.

EsoBiotec is in Mont-Saint-Guibert in Walloon Brabant. Backed up by Benelux investment companies Thuja Capital, UCB Ventures, Wallonie Entreprendre, Sambrinvest, and Investsud, as well as Spain’s Invivo Partners.

The company’s method is quicker and less complex than standard cell therapies, which involve removing a patient’s cells, genetically modifying them outside the body, and then reintroducing them as medication into the patient after immune cell depletion. They cost between $450,000 and $500,000 and take three to five weeks.

Susan Galbraith, AstraZeneca’s executive vice president of oncology research and development, stated the company negotiated a deal quickly after seeing EsoBiotec present data from its first patient at JP Morgan’s healthcare conference in San Francisco.

Galbraith believes that treatment for bone marrow cancer, which they started in December, could revolutionize cell therapy and will allow them to scale these advanced treatments so many patients worldwide can access them.   

She continued that only 10 to 20 percent of people benefit from cell therapy as clinics in many countries lack the equipment to handle the weeks-long process.

But, EsoBiotec’s technology allows the treatments to be given through a simple infusion at a fraction of the cost compared to traditional cures. If the trials prove effective, it could reduce the pressure on healthcare systems.

AstraZeneca, which fended a £69 billion takeover from the US drug maker Pfizer in 2014, will initially pay $425 million to the Belgian drug researcher and up to $575 million, depending on regulatory and development milestones.

AstraZeneca’s largest transaction was the $39 billion acquisition of the US rare illness drug developer Alexion in 2020.

AstraZeneca’s chief strategy officer and division head, Marc Dunoyer, defended the deal as a ‘fantastic’ acquisition since the company suffered a $753 million loss for scrapping one of the Alexion medications.

Separately, Britain’s largest pharmaceutical company announced on Monday that Imfinzi, the first and only immunotherapy for patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer whose disease has not advanced after platinum-based chemoradiation therapy, had been authorized in the European Union (EU).

AstraZeneca announced that medication for hypoparathyroidism, a rare endocrine condition that can cause osteoporosis and bone loss, has met its goal of returning blood calcium levels to normal after 24 weeks. The patients responded well to the treatment, and the trial continued as planned until 52 weeks.