Celyad

Celyad Oncology is a biotechnology company focused on developing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for cancer treatment. The company has been working on both autologous and allogeneic CAR T-cell approaches. Celyad's technology platforms include the NKG2D receptor-based CAR T-cells and a non-gene editing technology using short hairpin RNA (shRNA) for allogeneic therapies.

The company's lead clinical candidates have included CYAD-01, an autologous NKG2D-based CAR T therapy for acute myeloid leukemia and metastatic colorectal cancer, and CYAD-101, a non-gene edited allogeneic NKG2D-based CAR T therapy for metastatic colorectal cancer. In 2022, Celyad voluntarily paused a Phase 1 billion trial of CYAD-101 after two patient deaths, leading to a formal FDA clinical hold that was later lifted after changes to enrollment criteria.

In late 2022, Celyad underwent a significant strategic shift, moving away from clinical development to focus more on research and development discovery and monetizing its intellectual property portfolio through partnerships and collaborations. As part of this restructuring, the company reduced its workforce and discontinued some clinical and preclinical programs. In September 2022, Celyad sold its GMP cell therapy manufacturing facility to Cellistic for EUR 6 million.

Key customers and partnerships

In October 2018, Celyad entered an exclusive license agreement with Horizon Discovery Group to use their SMARTvector technology for expressing shRNA in Celyad's allogeneic CAR T therapies. This technology has been applied in developing Celyad's next-generation candidates, including the CYAD-200 series of allogeneic CAR T-cells.