Galapagos NV has entered agreements to acquire CellPoint and AboundBio, advancing Galapagos into next-generation cell therapy and expanding its portfolio and capabilities.
 
The acquisition of CellPoint and AboundBio provides access to an innovative, scalable, decentralized and automated point-of-care cell therapy supply model as well as a next-generation fully human antibody-based therapeutics platform. The goal is to expand the current market for CAR-T therapies and provide additional and improved treatment options.
 
CellPoint has developed, in a strategic collaboration with Lonza, a novel point-of-care supply model, which offers the potential for efficient, 7-day delivery of CAR-T therapies and avoids complex logistics, thereby addressing important limitations of current CAR-T treatments. The platform consists of CellPoint’s end-to-end xCellit workflow management and monitoring software and Lonza’s Cocoon system, a closed, automated manufacturing platform for cell and gene therapies.
 
Clinical studies with the CellPoint decentralized supply model have been approved by regulatory authorities in Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands. Two Phase 1/2a studies in rrNHL and rrCLL with a CD19 CAR-T product candidate are currently ongoing with results expected in 1H23, providing the opportunity for a rapid clinical validation of the CAR-T point-of-care supply model. In a next step, the aim is to leverage CellPoint’s platform for novel CAR-Ts originating from AboundBio’s fully human antibody-based library and biologic drug discovery and engineering capabilities, with the goal of bringing three additional differentiated, next-generation CAR-T candidates to the clinic in the next three years.
 
“With the transactions announced today, we position ourselves as a potential innovator in CAR-T, while building a strong foundation from which we can drive continued innovation for patients with advanced cancers who are in need of new treatment options. Our goal is to bring three differentiated, next-generation CAR-T candidates into the clinic over the next three years,” said Paul Stoffels, MD, CEO of Galapagos. “This is a first key step in our strategic transformation to accelerate and diversify our pipeline with the aim to create short- and long-term value through focused external growth. We continue to explore additional business development opportunities to further leverage our internal capabilities and renew our portfolio, and we expect to communicate a detailed update on our corporate strategy and portfolio later this year. With the support of our collaboration partner Gilead, we warmly welcome the CellPoint and AboundBio teams to Galapagos, and together we look forward to potentially bringing transformational medicines to patients worldwide.”