The planned closure of Bio Palette has triggered the termination of a deal that gave Beam Therapeutics rights to base editing technology. Having prepared for that outcome, Beam has retained access to the technology under a revised license agreement.
Bio Palette licensed the technology from Kobe University to develop engineered bacteria optimized to modify and control the microbiome. Focused on the microbiome, the Japanese biotech out-licensed the right to use the technology in all other ways of treating human disease. Beam paid Bio Palette $500,000 upfront for the license in 2019 and made a $2 million milestone payment the following year.
Having secured access to Beam technologies as part of the deal, Bio Palette advanced a pipeline of drug candidates toward the clinic in areas including inflammatory bowel disease and immuno-oncology. Those efforts are now coming to an end.
Amid a challenging period for the microbiome field, Beam said Bio Palette is planning to wind down. The partners have mutually terminated their licensing agreement as part of Bio Palette’s dissolution process.
Related
The shuttering of Bio Palette threatened Beam’s access to the technology. However, Beam insulated itself from the risk last month by inking a standby licensing agreement with Kobe University and Bio Palette. The agreement was designed to kick in if the original license agreement between Kobe University and Bio Palette ended.
With Bio Palette’s dissolution triggering the termination of the original agreement, the standby licensing pact has come into effect. The new agreement gives Beam a direct, exclusive license to the technology from Kobe University. Beam could pay Kobe University royalties, which were previously agreed upon with Bio Palette.
The restructuring of the licensing deal comes as Beam prepares to file for FDA approval of its base edited autologous cell therapy ristoglogene autogetemcel in sickle cell disease. Beam recently said it could seek approval as early as the end of this year.
