BioNTech bails out Autolus
Yesterday Autolus was facing the prospect of a solo launch for its lead project, obecabtagene autoleucel (obe-cel), with only enough cash to take it into 2025. Today the company has $250m from BioNTech, plus $350m from a public offering, and the promise of launch help from its bigger partner. In return for its outlay – which comprises $50m in cash and a $200m investment – BioNTech will chiefly gain access to Autolus’s manufacturing capacity, which the German group plans to use to speed development of its Claudin6-targeting Car-T project BNT211. This shows just how important manufacturing has become in Car-T, with Johnson & Johnson, for example, scrambling to meet demand for its multiple myeloma therapy Carvykti. At last year’s Jefferies London healthcare conference Autolus made much of its manufacturing facility in the UK, and ultimately this appears to have turned out to be its most immediately valuable asset. As for obe-cel, Autolus remains in control; it previously said that a phase 1 trial in lupus would start in early 2024.
What’s $250m worth? Details of BioNTech & Autolus’s tie-up
| Project/tech | Description | Originator | Deal details | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BNT211 | Claudin-6 Car-T | BioNTech | BioNTech has option to access Autolus’s manufacturing capacity | Data with automated production at ESMO 2023; pivotal trial in germ cell tumours due to start 2024 |
| Obecabtagene autoleucel | CD19 Car-T | Autolus | BioNTech to support launch and development expansion, will receive up to mid-single-digit royalty; Autolus to retain full rights | Pdufa 16 Nov, 2024, for adult r/r ALL (standard review); adcom not expected |
| AUTO1/22 | CD19/CD22 Car-T | Autolus | BioNTech has co-commercialisation option | Data reported from ph1 Carpall in ALL |
| AUTO6NG | GD2 Car-T | Autolus | BioNTech has co-commercialisation option | Ph1 Magneto trial planned in neuroblastoma |
| Target binders and cell programming technologies | Autolus | BioNTech has license for certain binders & option to license for ADCs & in vivo cell therapy programmes | ||
Note: all projects autologous. Source: company releases.
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