Adaptimmune up 24% premarket on T-cell therapy development deal

Adaptimmune Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ADAP) inks an agreement with Astellas Pharma (OTCPK:ALPMF) aimed at co-developing and co-commercializing up to three T-cell therapies in cancer.

The partnership will leverage Adaptimmune’s target identification and validation capabilities for generating target-specific T-cell Receptors (TCRs), chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), and HLA-independent TCRs that recognize surface epitopes independently of the HLA profile of the tumor cell with Astellas’ Universal Donor Cell and Gene Editing Platform it obtained via its acquisition of Seattle-based Universal Cells.

Astellas will fund research through Phase 1 for each candidate. Afterward, the companies will decide whether to advance development and commercialization together or independently.

Under the terms of the agreement, ADAP will receive $50M upfront, up to $73.75M in milestones per candidate if co-developed/co-commercialized, up to $147.5M in development milestones and up to $110M in sales milestones per candidate in Astellas develops/commercializes alone, up to $7.5M per year in research funding and tiered mid-single-digit-to-mid-teens royalties on net sales.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3531579-adaptimmune-up-24-premarket-on-t-cell-therapy-development-deal