AstraZeneca and Quell to Develop Cell Therapies in $2B Deal for Type 1 Diabetes and IBD

AstraZeneca has partnered with Quell Therapeutics to develop cell therapies for Type 1 diabetes and inflammatory bowel disorder in a potential deal worth over $2 billion. The collaboration will involve the development of autologous multi-modular Treg cell therapies, which are designed to suppress an overactive immune response seen in organ transplantation, inflammatory and autoimmune disease. AstraZeneca is fronting $85 million to get started while Quell will be responsible for developing the therapies and manufacturing through to the end of the first-in-human clinical study. Bristol Myers Squibb and GentiBio have also collaborated on Treg therapies for patients with IBD, while Intellia Therapeutics joined forces with Kyverna in January 2023 to collaborate on CD19 CAR T-cell therapies.