ImmTAC deal for Immunocore
pharmafile | June 27, 2013 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Genentech, ImmTAC, oxford biotech
Oxford-based biotech company Immunocore has signed what could be a $300 million deal with Genentech to discover and bring to market new cancer drugs.
The plan is to use Immunocore’s ImmTACs, bi-specific biological drugs which use the power of T Cell Receptors (TCRs) to recognise changes that occur inside cells during cancer.
ImmTACs can be directed to target and destroy just cancerous cells, leaving healthy ones, and Genentech is Immunocore’s first major partner to work with ImmTAC therapies against multiple cancer targets.
For providing its platform, Immunocore will receive between $10 million and $20 million per programme from the Roche subsidiary, and is then eligible for more than $300 million in development and commercial milestone payments.
TCRs are different to traditional antibody-based therapies – which recognise changes on the surface of cells – and could offer “the ability to develop extremely potent targeted therapies for cancers that are currently poorly served”, the UK company said in a statement.
Immunocore founder Bent Jakobsen said the collaboration “against these novel targets allows us jointly to explore the true potential of the technology”.
He added: “We have established a robust and reproducible platform and we look forward to see ImmTACs addressing some of the major challenges in cancer therapy.”
James Sabry, senior vice president of Genentech Partnering, believes Immunocore is the leading company in T Cell receptor biology and drug development.
“We are delighted to have initiated this significant partnership with them,” he said. “We hope this collaboration will lead to breakthrough therapies for cancer patients with unmet medical needs.”
Immunocore’s first product candidate, called IMCgp100, is entering clinical trials in patients with metastatic melanoma.
In November last year the privately-owned company was awarded a £2.4 million grant from the government-backed Biomedical Catalyst fund, and said it would use the money to take forward a candidate therapy for prostate cancer.
Adam Hill
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