BioNTech and Autolus Announce Strategic CAR-T Cell Therapy Collaboration to Advance Pipeline and Expand Late-Stage Programs

• Strategic alliance leverages manufacturing and commercial infrastructure as well as technology with the aim to advance both companies’ autologous CAR-T programs towards market, pending market authorization
• BioNTech secures the right to utilize Autolus’ manufacturing capacity in a cost-efficient set-up to accelerate the development of BNT211 into pivotal trials in CLDN6+ tumors
• BioNTech to support launch and expansion of development program of Autolus’ lead cell therapy candidate obe-cel and will receive a royalty on net sales
• BioNTech has co-commercialization options for Autolus’ AUTO1/22 and AUTO6NG programs
• BioNTech has the option to access a suite of Autolus target binders and cell programming technologies to support BioNTech’s development of in vivo cell therapy and antibody-drug conjugate candidates
• BioNTech agrees to invest $200 million in Autolus
  

MAINZ, Germany and LONDON, Feb. 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioNTech SE (Nasdaq: BNTX, “BioNTech”), a next-generation immunotherapy company pioneering novel therapies for cancer and other serious diseases, and Autolus Therapeutics plc (Nasdaq: AUTL, “Autolus”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation programmed T cell therapies, today announced a strategic collaboration aimed at advancing both companies’ autologous CAR-T programs towards commercialization, pending regulatory authorizations. In connection with the strategic collaboration, the companies entered into a license and option agreement and a securities purchase agreement.

“The collaboration with Autolus enables us to expand our BNT211 program into trials for multiple cancer indications in a cost-efficient way. Autolus' state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities’ set-up for clinical and commercial supply will enhance our own capacities in addition to our existing U.S. supply network and the ongoing expansion of our site in Gaithersburg, Maryland,” said Prof. Ugur Sahin, M.D., CEO and Co-Founder of BioNTech. "Furthermore, this collaboration grants us access to Autolus' precise cell targeting tools to further support BioNTech’s development of in vivo cell therapy and antibody-drug conjugate candidates."