Adaptimmune and TCR2 Collaborate to Develop Cell Therapies for Solid Tumors

The definitive agreement between Adaptimmune and TCR² involved an all-stock transaction and will feature an impressive share of resources including cell therapy professionals, infrastructure and end-to-end capabilities, with the combined Company’s cash runway predicted to last through to 2026.

The combination of these two cell therapy companies and their complementary platforms will create extensive benefits in terms of clinical development and product delivery.

The new Company’s development efforts will lie primarily with engineered T-cell therapies targeting MAGE-A4 and mesothelin – two targets expressed on a broad range of solid tumors and for which a large amount of promising early- and late-stage clinical data exists.

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These therapeutics targeting MAGE-A4 and mesothelin developed by the combined Company have the potential to treat over 300,000 patients with solid tumors a year in the EU and US. Solid tumors make up around 90% of all cancers and present a significant unmet need.

The Company’s pre-clinical pipeline also includes additional solid tumor targets, including PRAME and CD70.

The combined Company will utilise both Adpatimmune’s propriety SPEAT T-cell technology, for the affinity enhancement and engineering of TCRs to target solid tumor-specific peptide HLA complexes, and TCR²’s propriety TRuC T-cell technology, which uses anti-body-based binding domain fused to TCR subunits to reprogram an intact TCR complex to recognize tumor surface antigens.

“This strategic combination takes two technologically and culturally aligned companies at the forefront of their fields and combines them to create a preeminent cell therapy company for solid tumors. The combined company will drive forward its pipeline of cell therapies aimed at treating multiple cancers with high unmet medical needs. This includes gaining approval for the first engineered TCR T-cell therapy for a solid tumor – afami-cel for the treatment of synovial sarcoma,” said Adrian Rawcliffe, CEO of Adaptimmune.

“We jointly have an array of next-generation innovations that we will integrate to address the tumor micro-environment using both autologous and allogeneic approaches. Focus and specialization are critical in the cell therapy space and we believe the combined company has the technologies necessary to succeed. I am delighted that this combination provides a strong foundation to commercialize curative therapies for people with cancer,” adds Garry Menzel, President and CEO of TCR2 Therapeutics.

Source: TCR² Theraputics Press Release

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