The two companies want to jointly develop up to six cell therapies based on standardized, genetically modified immune cells.
(Photo: imago images/Panthermedia)
Frankfurt The Tübingen-based biotech company Immatics is deepening its partnership with the US pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) with another potentially multi-billion dollar contract for the development of novel cell therapies against cancer.
The two companies want to jointly develop up to six cell therapies based on standardized, genetically modified immune cells. As part of the deal, BMS will make an upfront payment to Immatics of $60 million. In addition, BMS has committed additional, contingent payments of up to $700 million per development program, so that the total volume of the alliance could reach a volume of more than $4.2 billion in an extreme case.
For the US group, it is the second major deal with a German biotech company within a few weeks. In mid-May, BMS had already sealed a research alliance with Hamburg-based Evotec for the development of active ingredients that can break down harmful proteins in the body. This cooperation has a volume of up to five billion dollars.
>> Read here: German biotech company Evotec seals billion-euro deal for “protein destroyers”
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In the case of the new alliance with Immatics, it is about the development of so-called allogeneic T-cell therapies. It uses immune cells from healthy donors that are genetically reprogrammed and targeted to cancer cells.
For this purpose, Immatics has developed a process based on so-called gamma-delta T cells, which the company believes already have a natural effect against tumor cells, which is further enhanced by genetic modification. According to Immatics, these cells do not trigger any rejection reactions in the recipients.
Treatment advances in leukemia
The Tübingen-based company, in which SAP founder Dietmar Hopp holds around 26 percent of the capital, specializes in identifying T-cell receptors that can be used to target immune cells to tumors. It is already testing several such therapies with the American cancer research center MD Anderson.
Cell therapies with T cells modified in this way have made some significant advances in the treatment of specific types of blood cancer, such as leukemia, in recent years and are now being researched on a relatively broad front. However, the previous successes were based on the fact that the immune cells of the respective patient were equipped with artificial receptors in the laboratory, then multiplied and then injected back into the patient.
Some of these individual (autologous) cell therapies achieved very high response rates, but at the same time they are complicated, time-consuming and very expensive. BMS and Immatics have also been working together in this area for a long time. The two companies have now also expanded this existing alliance, for which BMS is paying an additional $20 million to Immatics.
Allogeneic cell therapies offer the advantage over the previously established, patient-specific cell therapies for cancer that a large number of patients can be treated with a single modified cell line. In theory, they enable significantly greater standardization and cost advantages in production. They could also be produced in advance and would be available more quickly for the treatment of cancer patients.
A number of companies are therefore working on allogeneic cell therapies. So far, however, no allogeneic cell therapies against cancer have been approved.
Confirmation of the research strategy
For Immatics, the new deal with BMS means further confirmation of its own research strategy and a strengthening of financial reserves. According to the current quarterly report, the Tübingen company has cash reserves of 247 million euros. On the Nasdaq, where Immatics has been listed since 2019, the company was last valued at $ 475 million (about 440 million euros).
BMS is currently the market leader in the oncology business, but will have to deal with major patent expirations over the next few years. The US group is therefore intensively expanding its research and product development in order to defend its market leadership in cancer therapy.
More: German biotech company Evotec seals billion-euro deal for “protein destroyers”.