Astellas grants license to Bellicum for cancer target PSCA in cell and gene therapy

Agensys, an affiliate of Japanese drug major Astellas Pharma (TYO: 4503), has entered into a global license agreement with USA-based Bellicum Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: BLCM) granting the latter rights to develop and commercialize adoptive cell therapies, including CAR-T cells, for tumors expressing Prostate Stem Cell Antigen (PSCA) using PSCA technology, both in-licensed and developed at Agensys.

PSCA is a cancer antigen expressed in many malignancies, including prostate, pancreatic, bladder, esophagus, and gastric cancers. Bellicum is developing BPX-601, a GoCAR-T product candidate targeting PSCA that has demonstrated robust anti-tumor activity in preclinical studies. GoCAR-T is a proprietary Bellicum technology in which an MC (MyD88/CD40) molecular switch is designed to enable pharmacologic control over the activation, proliferation and persistence of the GoCAR-T cells in a patient.

“PSCA is an attractive target for our CAR-T cell technology and the license agreement allows Bellicum to advance BPX-601 into a number of cancers where there is a significant unmet medical need,” commented Bellicum’s president and chief executive Thomas Farrell, adding: “We look forward to the expected advancement of BPX-601 into clinical development in the first half of 2016 for the initial target indication of pancreatic cancer.”