AbelZeta Pharma, Inc. ("AbelZeta"), a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative and proprietary cell-based therapeutic products, announced that AstraZeneca has agreed to acquire AbelZeta's 50% share of the China development and commercialization rights to C-CAR031, such that AstraZeneca acquires the sole right to develop, manufacture and commercialize C-CAR031 globally. 

Under the terms of the agreement, AbelZeta will be entitled to receive up to $630 million from AstraZeneca including an upfront payment, and development, regulatory and sales milestone payments for the GPC3 program in China.

Under the terms of a prior agreement with AbelZeta, AstraZeneca owns the development, manufacturing and commercialization rights to C-CAR031 in rest of world, outside of China. AbelZeta is also eligible to receive additional milestone payments and royalties for rest of world development.

"This transaction reflects our commitment to leverage our platform technology to develop novel cell therapies in solid tumors of high unmet medical need, including Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and provides the opportunity to maximize C-CAR031's global reach" said Tony (Bizuo) Liu, Chairman and CEO of AbelZeta.

C-CAR031 is an autologous, Glypican 3 (GPC3)-targeting chimeric antigen receptor T-Cell (CAR-T) therapy, designed using AstraZeneca's dominant negative transforming growth factor-beta receptor II armoring platform, and is currently being investigated for the treatment of HCC and other solid tumors.