Astellas Pharma Inc. and Anokion SA announced an agreement to collaborate in the fields of type 1 diabetes and celiac disease through the development of unique and innovative products for antigen-specific immune tolerance.
A new company, Kanyos Bio, Inc., has been created to develop clinical candidates in the two selected indications, with an option for Astellas to add a third autoimmune indication as part of the collaboration. Astellas will provide non-dilutive research funding to Kanyos and holds an option to acquire Kanyos after reaching certain milestones. The total potential deal value is about $760 million, which includes R&D funding, option exercise, and milestone payments. Astellas will also participate, along with Anokion’s existing investors, in a $16 million equity financing for Kanyos.
Anokion, founded by Professor Jeffrey Hubbell of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME), is a biotechnology company developing products based on proprietary technology for the induction of antigen-specific immune tolerance. The technology targets antigens to the surfaces of red blood cells in vivo; as the cells circulate, age, and are cleared, the associated antigens are processed using the immune system’s natural mechanisms to prevent autoimmunity. Anokion’s technology has demonstrated the ability to induce immune tolerance to protein drugs and to autoimmune antigens in animal models. The creation of Kanyos will enable preclinical development of products for type 1 diabetes and celiac disease.
“We are delighted that our partner Astellas is applying its resources and pharmaceutical development expertise to Anokion’s platform technology and immunology expertise, through our new company Kanyos,” said Hubbell, Barry L. MacLean Professor of Molecular Engineering at Pritzker Molecular Engineering, Professor of Bioengineering at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and the academic founder, chairman, and chief scientific officer of both Anokion and Kanyos. “Our combined team has an opportunity to make a profound impact on patients’ lives.”
Hubbell's entrepreneurial and industrial endeavors, coupled with the innovative and groundbreaking research in his lab, is illustrative of the PME's mission to solve societal problems of contemporary interest through the translation of scientific advances into useful tools and applications for the world.
Read more in the official press release.