Spin-Out takes Fast Track to Clinic

A company built on the research of scientists from the Francis Crick Institute and King's College London, has secured a $100m (£77m) collaboration with pharmaceutical giant Takeda.

GammDelta Therapeutics, co-founded by Adrian Hayday and Oliver Nussbaumer was formed in August 2016 to translate their work on human gamma delta T cells into the clinic. Now with Takeda's support, they are aiming to use this novel T-cell approach to discover and develop new immunotherapies with the aim of treating a broad range of cancers, including solid tumours, and autoinflammatory diseases.

Adrian Hayday, Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute and Kay Glendinning Professor in the Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology at King's College London, says: "I am immensely grateful to very many people for accelerating our path toward the clinic, starting from incredibly basic research on cells that were once not even thought to exist in humans. We all understandably excited to see this translational potential develop and will do our very best to make it a success."

Veronique Birault, Head of Translation at the Crick, says: "This substantial investment is great recognition of the incredible progress made by the GammaDelta team since the company started. This shows how high quality discovery science is essential to generate seed-corn for translation, where research can be accelerated to improve health and bring investment into small businesses."

Paolo Paoletti, CEO of GammaDelta Therapeutics, says: "The pioneering research developed by Professor Adrian Hayday and Dr. Oliver Nussbaumer at King's College London and the Francis Crick Institute, the scientific founders of our company, forms the basis for the development of potentially transformational treatments for cancer and autoinflammatory diseases. We believe the collaboration with Takeda validates our novel approach and should allow us to move rapidly to the clinic."