UCL biotech spinout receives $250 million investment

Resized_credit_national_cancer_institute_on_unsplash.jpg - Credit: National Cancer Institute on Unsplash - UCL spinout, Autolus, which is dedicated to developing methods of re-programming the immune system to target and kill cancer, has raised $250 million (£185 million) from Blackstone Life Sciences. The US investment management company is providing the funding to help support Autolus' advancement of its CD19 CAR T-cell investigational candidate, obecabtagene autoleucel (obe-cel), alongside next generation product therapies of obe-cel in B-cell malignancies to treat leukaemia. It is the largest ever private financing of a UK biotech company from a single source. Autolus was founded in 2014 upon the work of Dr Martin Pule, an academic clinical haematologist and pioneer in T-cell engineering based at the UCL Cancer Institute*. Autolus was spun-out of UCL by UCL Business (UCLB), UCL's commercialisation company. Dr Martin Pule said "The UCL CAR T cell programme is at the cutting edge of cell-based cancer treatments. Partnerships with industry allow us to progress our technology to larger confirmatory clinical studies and onwards to changing clinical practise." With a global headquarters in London, Autolus now employs over 400 people.