Immatics and Celgene enter $1.5bn deal

Under the agreement, Celgene secures exclusive options to three "T-Cell receptor engineered T-cell therapy" (TCR-T) solid tumour targets identified by Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH. Identification of relevant tumour targets is at the core of Immatics’ proprietary XPRESIDENT^® technology and – for TCRs – the company's XCEPTOR^® TCR discovery and engineering platform. The platforms are capable even to identify targets at the surface of solid tumours with low mutation load.

Immatics will be responsible for the development and validation of programmes against the TCR-T targets through lead candidate stage. If Celgene exercises opt-in rights for these TCR-T-cell therapies, the company will assume sole responsibility for further worldwide development, manufacturing and commercialisation. In this case, Immatics will have certain early-stage co-development or co-funding rights for the selected TCR-T-cell therapies.Under the deal, Immatics is eligible to receive up to $505m for each licensed product in option exercise payments, development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments as well as tiered royalties on net sales.

Adoptive Cell Therapy (ACT) uses natural or engineered T cells to fight cancer. Immatics has developed three proprietary approaches to producing Adoptive Cell Therapies: ACTolog^®, ACTengine^® and ACTallo^®, which are developed in collaboration through Immatics US with University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and co-funded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).