Adaptimmune and Universal Cells Collaborate to Develop Allogeneic T-Cell Therapies

Adaptimmune Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on cancer immunotherapy products, and Seattle-based Universal Cells, a genome-editing company developing universal donor stem cells, have entered into a collaboration and license agreement for the development of allogeneic T-cell therapies.

The enhanced T-cell technology involves the selective engineering of cell surface proteins (T-Cell Antigen Receptors) and class I and class II human leukocyte antigen proteins, without the use of nucleases, to develop universal T-cell products. The companies are planning to develop off-the-shelf allogeneic affinity-enhanced T-cell therapeutics to treat large patient populations.

Under the terms of the agreement, Universal Cells will grant Adaptimmune an exclusive, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use, sell, supply, manufacture, import, and develop products and services utilizing Universal Cells’ technology within the T-cell immunotherapy field. Universal Cells will receive an upfront license and start-up fee of $5.5 million, and will be eligible for up to $41 million in milestone payments for certain development and product milestones. Universal Cells would also receive a profit-share payment for the first product and royalties on sales of other products utilizing its technology.