Takeda is looking to offload its cell therapy platform and preclinical assets to a yet-unidentified external partner. 137 employees will be let go as part of the move.
Takeda will no longer invest in cell therapies moving forward as the pharma reassesses its pipeline priorities and works to boost the efficiency and productivity of its business.
The Japanese multinational has no active cell therapy clinical trials, according to a Wednesday announcement. In conjunction with the move away from cell therapy, Takeda is looking to offload its cell therapy platform to an external partner, where the company expects the clinic-ready programs will continue to advance. The company is also laying off 137 employees as part of the move, according to reporting from the Boston Business Journal.
Takeda over the past few years has made hefty investments in cell therapies. In October 2021, the pharma acquired collaborator GammaDelta and its allogeneic variable delta 1 gamma-delta T cell therapy platform, as well as a pipeline of early cell therapy candidates for cancer. The two companies first partnered in 2017.
A few months later, in January 2022, Takeda snapped up Adaptate Biotherapeutics—which spun out of GammaDelta in October 2019and was focused on antibody therapies that modulate T cells. Beyond cancer, Takeda in 2021 also partnered with Seattle’s Immusoft to advance cell therapies for rare neurometabolic diseases.
Takeda hasn’t yet identified the external partner to receive the cell therapy assets, but in November last year, the company signed a license deal with Alloy Therapeutics under which the Boston biotech will develop the pharma’s stem cell-derived CAR T and CAR-natural killer cell platforms, with an eye toward targeting solid and hematological cancers.
Following the cell therapy exit, Takeda is now down to three main modalities: small molecules, biologics and antibody-drug conjugates. The cell therapy resources will be diverted into these three programs, though the pharma maintains that its preclinical research projects “will continue to benefit from the novel insights gained from its cell therapy research.”
Takeda will also absorb 58 billion Japanese Yen ($394 million) in impairment charges, primarily related to the gamma delta T-cell therapy technology.
The pharma is in the midst of a multiyear strategic effort to realign its business. Announced in May 2024, the program aims to improve Takeda’s core operating profit margin to the low-to-mid-30% range through a more optimized structure and better R&D priorities. Takeda did not present a detailed roadmap of this strategic shift at the time, but changes have been felt in recent quarters.
In May, for instance, Takeda announced that it had scrapped more than 10 developmental projects, among them the Phase III soticlestat, which was being trialed for Dravet syndrome, after the therapy failed to meet its efficacy endpoint. Also axed were TAK-062 in celiac disease, TAK-676 in solid tumors and pabinafusp alfa for Hunter syndrome.
