Mankind Pharma, an Indian pharmaceutical company, has agreed to acquire a 70% stake in Armed Cell Therapeutics B.V. (ACTx), a biotech company based in Belgium, for €48 million (about ₹511 crore). The deal was announced on October 15, 2026, after the company's board approved the plan, and was disclosed in a filing to the National Stock Exchange of India.
The money will be paid in cash, in instalments. Mankind is making the purchase through Mankind Pharma (Netherlands) B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary. Indian press reports say the deal is subject to regulatory approvals where required under local law, and the sources reviewed do not say whether it has closed.
What ACTx is building
ACTx develops CAR-T therapies, a form of cancer treatment in which a patient's immune cells are modified to attack tumour cells. Its lead programmes, built on what it calls an "armed" version of the technology, target non-Hodgkin lymphoma and small cell lung cancer. The company is also doing exploratory work on generating CAR-T cells inside the patient's body.
ACTx is headquartered in Belgium, with operations in the Netherlands and research in Pittsburgh in the United States, according to the Free Press Journal. The company's research teams are in the United States and Europe. The sources do not give ACTx's founding year, revenue, funding or headcount.
“Innovation will be one of the defining growth engines for Mankind over the coming decades.”
The people behind it
Paul Stoffels is chair of ACTx's board. He is a former chief executive of Galapagos and a former chief scientific officer of Johnson & Johnson, and the Free Press Journal calls him a co-founder. John Mellors, the chief scientific officer, is a distinguished professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and a former senior vice president of discovery and early development at Galapagos. Peter Verhaeghe, a former chair of argenx, is also named in the coverage, although his current role at ACTx is not stated.
Stoffels said in a statement carried by VOH Network that "Next-generation CAR-T therapies can reach many more patients if we make them more powerful and durable."
Why Mankind is buying
The purchase marks Mankind's entry into next-generation CAR-T therapy and into advanced cancer treatment more broadly. Arjun Juneja, the company's chief operating officer, said that "Innovation will be one of the defining growth engines for Mankind over the coming decades" and called the investment the first step in building a global pipeline of breakthrough therapies. He said the long-term goal is to make such therapies more accessible to patients in India and around the world.
Dealroom described Mankind as a generics-focused drugmaker, so the move is a change of direction towards research-stage medicines. ACTx's candidates are still in development, and the sources do not report clinical results for them.
The structure and the money
The €48 million covers the 70% stake. Separately, Mankind plans to put up to €45 million more into its Dutch subsidiary, which raises the subsidiary's total investment limit to €50 million, including an earlier approved limit of €5 million. The filing as reported does not say how the extra funds will be used.
The sources do not say who owns the remaining 30%, whether current holders will keep a stake, or what valuation the price implies for the whole company. They also do not name ACTx's existing investors or any earlier funding rounds, so none are listed here.
What happens next
Regulatory approvals are the next step. VOH Network reported that a definitive agreement has been signed, and Indian press reports describe the approvals as those required under local law.
Neither company has said how ACTx's research teams will be organised after the deal. Mankind's description of the stake as a first step points to further work on the pipeline, but no figures beyond the €50 million investment limit were given.
