What to Take Away From Takeda's Discontinuation of Cell therapy?

What happened?

On 1 October 2025, Takeda announced that it will discontinue all cell therapy programs ¹. This includes preclinical trials and the Gamma Delta T-cell platform acquired from GammaDelta Therapeutics, a London-based biotechnology company. This is part of a strategic portfolio prioritisation process during which the company refocus on programs with nearer-term ROI* potential. The expected impairment loss of intangible assets relating to the Gamma Delta T-cell platform, and the tightening capital markets resulting from US tariffs and drug pricing reforms, may have contributed to this strategic decision. An impairment loss happens when an asset’s market value declines to below its value on the company’s financial statement.

What is the Gamma Delta T cell Platform?

Cell therapies are therapeutic practices that involve the use of cells. These cells could come from the patients themselves (autologous) or from healthy donors (allogeneic). Stem cells and immune cells are examples of cell types used in cell therapy ².

Gamma Delta T cells are unconventional T cells – a type of immune cell playing crucial roles in combating pathogens and cancer cells. They are defined by T-cell receptors (TCR) composed of gamma and delta chains, rather than alpha and beta chains in conventional T cells ³.

While conventional T cells can only recognise cancer cells in the presence of MHC (a protein on the cell membrane), Gamma Delta T cells can do this in an MHC-independent manner. This makes them ideal candidates for cancer cell therapy. GammaDelta Therapeutics, founded by Prof. Hayday and Dr Nussbaumer from the Francis Crick Institute, is a spin-out company commercialising the potential of these cells ⁴. The company was acquired by Takeda in 2021, following a five-year partnership ⁵.

In 2021, the company started clinical trials on patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a form of blood cancer. The trial, which involved transplanting patients with allogeneic T cells, was later terminated ⁶. Currently, Gamma Delta T cell therapy is still under clinical development, and past results on efficacy have been underwhelming ³.

*ROI: Return on Investment.

Why does this matter?

This decision seems to be part of a larger trend of pharmaceutical companies moving away from cell therapies, which was once a booming field. Several other big pharma companies have abandoned cell therapy deals this year, potentially due to costs and scalability challenges (e.g., manufacturing, logistics), as highlighted in a report by JP Morgan.^7,8

There are still signs of hope for cell therapies. The FDA recently released a plan to streamline the regulatory pathway for cell and gene therapies, which could improve the prospects of this novel modality.⁹

What to take away?

General:

• Continue to pay attention to the cell therapy space, especially any practical innovations and regulatory news.

For aspiring entrepreneur academics:

• Market sentiments influence how easy it is for you to access funds.
• Think about the commercialisation process from start to end, not just clinical issues, to identify all potential problems (scaled manufacturing, logistics, marketing, etc.).

For aspiring life science investors:

• Be wary of market hypes. Focus on objective measures and form your own judgement.
• Consider potential commercialisation challenges in addition to clinical challenges (i.e., safety, efficacy).

References

1. Takeda. Takeda Provides Update on Cell Therapy Research. Available at: https://www.takeda.com/newsroom/statements/2025/takeda-provides-update-on-cell-therapy-research/. Accessed 5 October 2025.

2. El-Kadir AE-H, Rafei M, Shammaa R. Cell Therapy: Types, Regulation, and Clinical Benefits. Sec. Gene and Cell Therapy. 2021;8.

3. Eberl M, Hayday A. Gamma Delta (γδ) T Cells. Available at: https://www.immunology.org/public-information/bitesized-immunology/cells/gamma-delta-gd-t-cells. Accessed 5 October 2025.

4. Drew L. A new approach to cancer immunotherapy. Available at: https://www.cancerresearchhorizons.com/news-and-events/our-articles/new-approach-cancer-immunotherapy. Accessed 5 October 2025.

5. Takeda. Takeda to Acquire GammaDelta Therapeutics to Accelerate Development of Allogeneic γδT Cell Therapies Addressing Solid Tumors. Available at: https://www.takeda.com/newsroom/newsreleases/2021/takeda-to-acquire-gammadelta-therapeutics-to-accelerate-development-of-allogeneic—cell-therapies-addressing-solid-tumors/. Accessed 5 October 2025.

6. ClinicalTrials.gov. Study of GDX012 in Patients With MRD Positive AML. Available at: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05001451. Accessed 5 October 2025.

7. JP Morgan. 2024 Biopharma Industry Insights: Investment Trends, M&A Activity, and Market Dynamics. Available at: https://www.jpmorgan.com/content/dam/jpmorgan/documents/cb/insights/outlook/jpm-biopharma-deck-q4-2024-final-ada.pdf. Accessed 5 October 2025.

8. Incorvaia D. UPDATED: Takeda lays off 137 US staff as part of retreat from cell therapy. Available at: https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/takeda-taps-out-cell-therapy-arena-part-strategic-shift. Accessed 5 October 2025.

9. Samorodnitsky D. FDA’s New Cell and Gene Therapy Guidances Finally Go a ‘Click Further’ to ‘Game Changing’. Available at: https://www.biospace.com/fda/fdas-new-cell-and-gene-therapy-guidances-finally-go-a-click-further-to-game-changing. Accessed 5 October 2025.