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Takeda Picks Next Big Thing In Immunotherapy: Gamma Delta T Cells

 
• By Eleanor Malone

Takeda is aiming to get ahead in what it believes is an emerging area with big potential in immunotherapy: gamma delta T-cells. It has signed a deal with GammaDelta Therapeutics that gives it a purchase option on the UK-based, Abingworth-backed start-up. GammaDelta's CEO, former GSK executive Paolo Paoletti, and the head of Takeda's external innovation center, Dan Curran, spoke to Scrip.

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Could gamma delta T cells provide an important new immunotherapy tool? • Source: Shutterstock

Checkpoint inhibitors and CAR-T cell therapy have become household words in pharma circles, but tissue-derived gamma delta T-cells are not widely talked about…yet. This relatively under-explored aspect of immune biology may be able to provide useful additional tools in the growing immunotherapy armamentarium, as a deal signed last week by Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. highlights.

The Japanese firm has bought a stake in GammaDelta Therapeutics Ltd, a start-up spun out of UK academia only last year, and alongside the firm's existing venture capital backer Abingworth has committed funding of up to $100m to accelerate its R&D

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