Intrexon Buys Tools, Wins Partners

Intrexon Corp.’s own tools might not have become industry standards. But the company’s half a dozen acquisitions since mid-2014 have given it a shot at solving some high-profile challenges, and have attracted mainstream pharmaceutical partners.

Cattle breeding and genetics platform Trans Ova, acquired in mid-2014, now accounts for about half of Intrexon’s revenues. Buying UK-based Oxitec Ltd. in August 2015 pushed Intrexon into the spotlight with a potential solution to the Zika virus outbreak: Oxitec came with a genetically modified male mosquito that may help slow the virus’ spread. (The so-called Friendly Aedes male mates with disease-carrying Aedes aegypti females and generates offspring that are genetically programmed to die before reaching adulthood and reproduction. The approach is currently being tested in some Brazilian neighborhoods.) Intrexon also bought into the frenzy around chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR-T cells) as novel cancer therapies. With long-standing collaborator Ziopharm Oncology Inc., it licensed a non-viral gene transfer system known as “Sleeping Beauty” from University of Texas’ MD Anderson Cancer Center that may reduce the safety concerns associated with other more advanced CAR-T cell approaches