AstraZeneca announced the successful completion of an equity investment with Cellectis, first revealed in a collaboration pact last fall, bringing AstraZeneca's total equity stake up to 44%.
The equity investment and research collaboration agreement, signed back in November, will enable AstraZeneca to leverage Cellectis' proprietary gene editing technologies and manufacturing capabilities to design up to 10 novel cell and gene therapy products for areas of high unmet need, including oncology, immunology and rare diseases.
Cellectis has already received an initial payment of $105 million from AstraZeneca — $25 million upfront per the research collaboration and an $80 million equity investment. That equity investment gave AstraZeneca approximately 22% of the share capital and 21% of the voting rights for Cellectis.
Now, Cellectis will get an additional $140 million equity investment, bringing AstraZeneca's total equity stake to 44% and giving the drugmaker 30% of voting rights.
In addition, according to Cellectis, two AstraZeneca execs, Alexion CEO Marc Dunoyer and AstraZeneca executive director of corporate development & ventures, Tyrell Rivers, will join the board of directors at Cellectis.
AstraZeneca will get the option for a worldwide exclusive license for the 10 candidates developed under the research agreement, to be exercised before IND filing. Cellectis would then receive an IND option fee and milestone payments, ranging from $70 million up to $220 million, per each of the candidate products.