Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc a leader in cell therapy to treat cancer, announced today that it has entered into a strategic collaboration and license agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group to develop and commercialize allogeneic cell therapies to treat multiple oncology indications.
“We are proud to partner with Genentech, given their commitment to patients and science in the cancer immunology field. This collaboration broadens Adaptimmune’s leadership position in developing allogeneic cell therapies building on our in-depth knowledge gained from our autologous clinical programs,” said Adrian Rawcliffe, Adaptimmune’s Chief Executive Officer. “Through this collaboration, our platform will form the basis of a personalized allogeneic cell therapy vision, where any patient can receive a T-cell product for their cancer; a significant step towards our goal of making cell therapies both curative and mainstream.”
“We believe allogeneic cell therapies could be a game-changing approach for developing personalized therapy platforms based on individual cancer patients’ unique needs,” said James Sabry, M.D., Ph.D., global head of Pharma Partnering, Roche. “This partnership, which combines Adaptimmune’s allogeneic platform with Genentech’s expertise in developing personalized therapies, complements our other efforts to discover and develop personalized cell therapies. It holds the promise to change how we treat cancer and brings us another step closer to making personalized healthcare a reality.”
The collaboration has two components:
- Development of allogeneic T-cell therapies for up to five shared cancer targets
- Development of personalized allogeneic T-cell therapies
For each component, Adaptimmune will be responsible for developing clinical candidates using its induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived allogeneic platform to produce T-cells (iT cells). Genentech will be responsible for the input TCRs and subsequent clinical development and commercialization.
Under the terms of the agreement, Adaptimmune will receive an upfront payment of $150 million and additional payments of $150 million over five years, unless the agreement is earlier terminated. In addition, Adaptimmune may be eligible to receive research, development, regulatory and commercial milestones payments potentially exceeding $3 billion in aggregate value.
Adaptimmune will also receive tiered royalties on net sales in the mid-single to low-double digits.
Adaptimmune has the right to opt in to a 50/50 U.S. profit/cost share on “off-the-shelf” products. If Adaptimmune elects to opt in, then Adaptimmune will be eligible to share 50 percent of profits and losses from U.S. sales on such products and is eligible to receive ex-U.S. regulatory and sales-based milestone payments, as well as royalties on ex-U.S. net sales.
The effectiveness of the agreement is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.