Immatics & GSK Team Up To Develop And Advance T-Cell Therapies

Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH, which has locations in Tuebingen and Munich, Germany and Houston, Texas, is partnering with UK-based GlaxoSmithKline to develop novel adoptive cell therapies for various oncology indications.

Adoptive cell therapies are a form of immunotherapy where T-cells are provided to a patient to help the body fight diseases. In oncology, this usually means the patient’s own T-cells, when are then grown in the laboratory and infused back into the patient, such as in CAR-T therapies.

Under the strategic collaboration agreement, the two companies will identify, research and develop next-generation T-Cell Receptor (TCR) Therapeutics focused on solid tumors. It will initially work on autologous T-cell therapies with the option to add allogeneic “off-the-shelf” cell therapies leveraging Immatics’ ACTallo platform. They will use proprietary TCRs that came out of Immatics’ XCEPTOR TCR discovery platform directed against two proprietary targets that were discovered and validated by Immatics’ XPRESIDENT technology.

Current CAR-T therapies on the market, namely Novartis’ Kymriah (tisagenlecleucel) and Gilead Sciences’ Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloeucel) are autologous therapies. The T-cells are obtained from the patients, sent to the companies’ laboratories, engineered, then returned to the patient’s physician to reinfuse into the patient. This is an extensive process that is both time-consuming and expensive. Many companies are working on so-called off-the-shelf cell therapies that would be built on T-cells drawn from healthy patients and modified for specific cancer antigens ahead of time, which would take less time and decrease hospital costs.

Under the terms of the deal, GSK is paying Immatics about $50 million upfront for two initial programs. Immatics is eligible for more than $550 million in various commercial milestone payments for each product as well as additional royalties. GSK has an option to select more target programs to include. For each additional program, Immatics is eligible for option, milestone and royalty payments. As such, the deal could exceed $1 billion, potentially significantly if GSK options more target programs.

Immatics will largely handle development and validation of the TCR up to the point of picking a clinical candidate. At that point, GSK will assume complete responsibility for global development, manufacturing and commercialization with the possibility for Immatics to co-develop one or more of the TCRs, including running the first-in-human clinical trial if GSK requests it.

“We are delighted to enter into this strategic collaboration with GSK—a partner who is already committed to adoptive cell therapies and TCR-T approaches,” said Harpreet Singh, Immatics’ chief executive officer.

He went on to say, “By combining Immatics’ world-leading target and TCR discovery platforms with GSK’s advanced manufacturing, development capabilities and a commitment to next-generation TCR-T technologies, both companies are joining forces to enable the development of effective novel therapies for cancer patients with high unmet medical need.”

Immatics has been busy in recent years, entering into deals with Amgen, Celgene and Genmab. It has a pool of about 200 targets.

GSK entered the space in 2014 with a partnership with Adaptimmune. One of those therapies is in a pivotal trial. It is also inked R&D collaborations and manufacturing deals with Lyell Immunopharma and Hitachi Chemical Advanced Therapeutics Solutions.-Bio Space