Benzinga | Feb 16, 2021 08:55AM EST

Cellectis, Cytovia Therapeutics Ink Gene-Edited Therapy Pact For Oncology Indications

* Cytovia Therapeutics Inc and Cellectis SA (NASDAQ: CLLS) have entered into a strategic research and development collaboration to develop TALEN gene-edited induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) Natural Killer (NK) and Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-NK cells.

* Cellectis will receive up to $760 million in milestone payments from Cytovia for the first five TALEN gene-edited iPSC-derived NK products. It will also receive single-digit royalty payments on the net sales.

* Cellectis will receive an equity stake of $15 million in Cytovia stock or an upfront cash payment of $15 million if certain conditions are not met by December 31, 2021, as well as an option to invest in future financing rounds.

* The agreement utilizes Cellectis' gene-editing technology, TALEN, to yield NK and CAR-NK treatments with improved potency, persistence, and safety for various cancers, including solid tumors. Cytovia's CAR-NKs are expected to enter clinical trials by 2022.

* Cellectis will develop custom TALEN, Cytovia will conduct the pre-clinical evaluation, clinical development, and commercialization of the selected therapeutic candidates. Cytovia will have the worldwide license to its TALEN.

* Price Action: CLLS moves 9.2% higher at $29.66 in premarket trading on the last check Tuesday.