Roche, immatics in cancer vaccine deal worth over $1bn

Roche and Germany's immatics biotechnologies GmbH have signed a new cancer vaccine and immunotherapy collaboration. Under the terms of the agreement, immatics will receive an upfront payment of US $17 million and committed research funding plus potential milestone payments that could reach values in excess of $1 billion and royalties across three cancer indications, based on sales of the cancer vaccines and immunotherapies resulting from this agreement.

The agreement will focus on the research, clinical development and commercialisation of a number of new tumour-associated peptide (TUMAP)-based cancer vaccine candidates and other immunotherapies in oncology, targeting primarily gastric, prostate and non-small cell lung cancer.

Roche will be responsible for the clinical development and commercialisation of all the immunotherapies generated by immatics as a result of this collaboration. The most advanced cancer vaccine candidate covered by the agreement is IMA942, for the treatment of gastric cancer, which is ready for phase one clinical trials.

"Roche is proud to initiate this partnership with immatics, which is widely recognized as a leader in the field of tumour antigen identification and novel cancer vaccine development. The wealth of relevant cancer-specific antigens that we expect to emerge from this research collaboration will provide an extraordinary opportunity to elicit broad tumour-specific immune responses upon vaccination, especially when combined with other immunomodulatory molecules in our pipeline. Discovery of novel antigens also will provide unique targets for other protein-based anti-cancer agents currently under development,"

Hy Levitsky, Head of Cancer Immunology Experimental Medicine at Roche.

While Roche will be responsible for clinical development of IMA942, immatics will conduct research on behalf of Roche using its unique XPRESIDNET technology platform to identify novel and relevant TUMAP candidates for the development of cancer vaccines and other compounds targeting cancer peptide antigens, primarily in gastric, prostate and non-small cell lung cancer.

"We are delighted that Roche through this alliance has recognized the huge potential of our TUMAP-based approach to rapidly develop cancer vaccines that we believe hold great promise for cancer patients in terms of overall survival improvement and quality of life benefits across a broad range of cancers. It also validates the potential for XPRESIDENT® identified TUMAPs to play a key role in the development of other cancer immunotherapies. We are looking forward to working with Roche to make a significant difference to the outcome for patients with gastric, prostate and lung cancer."

Paul Higham, CEO of immatics.