Sanofi has entered into a deal to buy Kiadis, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative ‘off the shelf’ natural killer (NK) cell based medicines for the treatment of life-threatening diseases.

Under the agreement, Sanofi will make a public offer (subject to certain customary conditions) to buy the entire share capital of Kiadis for 5.45 euros per share, representing an equity value of 308 million euros.

NK cells seek and identify malignant cancer cells, and have broad application across various tumour types. According to Sanofi, Kiadis’ platform has the potential to “make products rapidly and economically available for a broad patient population across a wide range of indications”.

“We believe the Kiadis ‘off the shelf’ K-NK cell technology platform will have broad application against liquid and solid tumours, and create synergies with Sanofi’s emerging immuno-oncology pipeline, providing opportunities for us to pursue potential best-in-disease approaches,” said John Reed, global head of Research & Development at Sanofi, further explaining the rationale behind the move.

“Kiadis’ vision is to bring novel cell-based medicines to people with life-threatening diseases, and this transaction will help achieve that vision,” added Kiadis’ chief executive Arthur Lahr. “Sanofi has the resources and financial strength to accelerate development of our NK-cell products, to the benefit of patients”.

Sanofi had already licensed Kiadis’ K-NK004 preclinical programme for multiple myeloma before this deal, and now also gains access to the firm’s K-NK002, currently in Phase II development for the prevention of post-transplant relapse in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes, as well as other candidates for relapsed or refractory AML and SARS-CoV-2.