Cooperation with Medigene
Biontech plans collaboration on cancer therapy
02/21/2022, 21:57
Biontech obtains the experience of another company for the investigation of cancer immunotherapies. Medigene offers an innovative program to help with planned TCR immunization. Huge sales quotas and an early sign for this.
The two German biotech companies, Biontech and Medigene, want to work together to develop cancer immunotherapies. As part of the cooperation, Medigene will receive an initial payment of €26 million from Biontech, as announced by the two companies. Biontech, known for its Covid-19 vaccine, will also reimburse research costs over the duration of the three-year collaboration. The Mainz-based company will also be responsible for global development and will have exclusive commercialization rights for all therapies resulting from the collaboration.
Biontech will take over a novel program for TCR immunotherapies from Medigene, which is still in preclinical development, as well as licenses for technologies from the company from Martinsried, near Munich.
The collaboration is expected to include multiple targets for the development of TCR therapies that could be used to treat solid tumors. Medigene can expect success-related milestone payments of up to triple-digit millions per program, as well as royalties on sales.
TCR therapies are among cancer immunotherapies that aim to activate the body’s defense system in such a way that it can recognize and destroy cancer cells. In this therapy, doctors remove T cells from the patient’s immune system, genetically modify them so they recognize cancer cells as hostile, and return them to the patient. Companies like Bayer, Novartis and Johnson & Johnson are also doing research in this area. Biontech had already strengthened itself in this area last summer with an acquisition in the US.
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