Immatics and Celgene Enter Strategic Collaboration to Develop Novel Adoptive Cell Therapies

Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company active in the discovery and development of T-cell redirecting cancer immunotherapies, announced that Immatics and Celgene Corporation have entered into a strategic collaboration and option agreement to develop novel adoptive cell therapies targeting multiple cancers.

Immatics may develop T-Cell Receptor Engineered T-cell Therapy (TCR-T) programs against solid tumor targets discovered with Immatics’ XPRESIDENT technology. Programs would utilize proprietary T-Cell Receptors (TCRs) identified by Immatics’ XCEPTOR® TCR discovery and engineering platform.

If Immatics develops programs against the TCR-T targets, Immatics will be responsible for the development and validation of these programs through lead candidate stage, at which time Celgene may exercise opt-in rights and assume sole responsibility for further worldwide development, manufacturing and commercialization of the TCR-T-cell therapies. Immatics would have certain early stage co-development rights or co-funding rights for selected TCR-T-cell therapies arising from the collaboration.

“We are delighted to enter into this strategic collaboration with Celgene. This alliance leverages Immatics’ excellence in developing adoptive cell therapies (ACT) and complements our proprietary clinical pipeline of ACT products and our strong portfolio of Bispecific products”, says Harpreet Singh, CEO of Immatics. “By combining Immatics’ world-leading discovery engines as well as our cellular manufacturing and clinical development platforms with Celgene’s broad expertise in cell therapy research, development and commercialization, the companies join forces to enable the development of truly novel opportunities for patients with solid tumors who currently have no other treatment options.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Immatics will receive an upfront payment of $75 million for three programs and may be eligible to receive up to $505 million for each Licensed Product in option exercise payments, development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments as well as tiered royalties on net sales.