Japanese pharma Takeda has pulled the plug on its cell therapy efforts, despite its strong prior focus on the modality.
This comes amongst the Japanese pharma’s bid to prioritise its portfolio and will result in 137 job losses at its R&D site in Massachusetts, US.
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Takeda’s decision marks a notable reversal in the company’s cell therapy stance, which was once a cornerstone of its oncology portfolio – becoming one of the four key modalities it was actively pursuing.
Moving forward, the company will be homing in on antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), biologics and small molecules across six key therapeutic areas.
Though the company will no longer continue with its cell therapy programmes, the big pharma hopes to find an external partner to “leverage its cell therapy platform technologies”.
This prospective partner would also be responsible for the continued advancement of Takeda’s research, as well as its clinic-ready cell therapy programmes.
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By GlobalDataCell therapy creates financial woes for Takeda
Takeda’s choice will not only tighten its current portfolio, but also its purse strings, as the loss of its gamma delta T-cell therapy GDX012 will set the pharma back Y58bn ($394m).
This financial blow comes four years after the company hedged its bets on GDX012 by acquiring its creator, King’s College spinout GammaDelta Therapeutics.
Takeda previously touted GDX012 due to its “differentiated approach” in targeting solid tumours and haematological cancers. Though GammaDelta initiated a Phase I trial in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) for the drug in 2021, the study was later terminated.
Cell therapy divides big pharma
Though Takeda is the latest player to move away from cell and gene therapies (CGT), it is certainly not the first – with peers Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Roche-owned Genentech and Bayer all canning deals in the space this year.
However, it appears that these pharma giants have not yet lost faith in the modality, as all four continue to collaborate with respective partners, NanoVation, Voyager, Repertoire and Cytiva, to advance their standing in the space.
Meanwhile, other key industry players are going full steam ahead on their CGT programmes – including US-based Gilead, which recently merged with in vivo CAR-T specialist, Interius, for $350m.
AbbVie and AstraZeneca have also taken a chance on the emerging modality, snapping up Capstan Therapeutics and EsoBiotec for $2.1bn and up to $1bn in March and July 2025, respectively.
In vivo CAR-T has been a key topic of discussion in recent months, with analysts at GlobalData noting that the therapy class could well displace ex-vivo options soon. This is primarily due to their capacity to address the sky-high manufacturing costs and long wait times associated with ex-vivo models.
Cell & Gene Therapy coverage on Pharmaceutical Technology is supported by Cytiva.
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