resTORbio, Inc. (Nasdaq: TORC) and Adicet Bio, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement to create a combined publicly-traded biotechnology company focused on the development of Adicet’s off-the-shelf allogeneic gamma delta T cell therapies for oncology and other indications. Adicet’s lead candidate, ADI-001, is a gamma delta CAR-T cell therapy targeting CD20 being developed for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Adicet has a pipeline of differentiated pre-clinical and discovery programs leveraging its universal, off-the-shelf gamma delta CAR-T cell platform.
Under the terms of the agreement, Adicet would merge with a wholly-owned subsidiary of resTORbio in an all-stock transaction, and the equityholders of Adicet will become the majority owners (75%) of resTORbio’s outstanding common stock upon the close of the merger.
“After a thorough evaluation of strategic alternatives, the Board of Directors of resTORbio believes that this merger represents the highest-potential value creation opportunity for resTORbio stockholders,” commented Chen Schor, Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of resTORbio, Inc. “The combined company will leverage Adicet’s scientific and product development expertise and pipeline of engineered immune cell therapeutics for cancer based on its proprietary gamma delta T cell therapy platform. We believe this transformative transaction will provide the resources for the combined company to advance multiple programs into the clinic, including Adicet’s lead candidate, ADI-001, a gamma delta CAR-T cell therapy targeting CD20, and expand the pipeline in oncology and other indications.”
“Adicet believes that its novel and highly productive efforts to date have generated a compelling allogeneic cell therapy platform that overcomes key challenges faced by existing CAR-T therapy,” said Anil Singhal, Ph.D. President and Chief Executive Officer of Adicet Bio, Inc. “The proposed merger with resTORbio is the right next step in our trajectory, and we expect that it will provide Adicet with the resources to rapidly accelerate the development of its unique product candidates based on this platform and leverage our cGMP manufacturing process to create best-in-class therapies for patients in need.”
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Adicet completed an $80 million Series B financing in October 2019 and was backed by OrbiMed Advisors, aMoon2 Fund, Novartis Venture Fund, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC), OCI Enterprises, Inc, KB Investment Co., Ltd., Consensus Business Group, SBI JI Innovation Fund, Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, Handok, Inc., DSC Investment, Inc. and Pontifax.
In August 2016, Adicet entered into a strategic collaboration with Regeneron focused on developing next-generation engineered immune cell therapeutics using Adicet’s gamma delta T cell allogeneic platform technology.
In addition to its gamma delta T cell therapy platform, Adicet also identifies and validates cancer specific targets derived from the intracellular proteome and then generates T cell receptor-like monoclonal antibodies (TCRLs) directed to these cancer-specific peptide targets presented by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) Class I complexes. These TCRLs are designed to arm CAR-modified T cells or as T cell engaging antibodies that target solid tumors.
Source: BioSpace