Adaptive and Genentech first partnered in 2018 to advance T cell receptor-based therapies for cancer.
Adaptive Biotechnologies lost a powerhouse partner after Roche subsidiary Genentech walked away from a potentially $2 billion cancer-focused cell therapy collaboration.
The Washington-based biotech revealed the news in an SEC filing on Monday, noting that the collaboration between the two companies will end Feb. 9, 2026. The partners will work to wind down their joint cell therapy activities and, thereafter, Adaptive will no longer be held to its exclusivity obligations under the agreement. In conjunction with the termination, Adaptive will receive $33.7 million in non-cash revenue during the second half of this year.
The decision to walk away from Adaptive “was not based on any emerging safety concerns,” a Genentech spokesperson told Endpoints News on Tuesday.
Adaptive and Genentech formed the partnership in 2018, according to the regulatory filing, though the arrangement was announced in January 2019. The agreement included a $300 million upfront payment and a promise of up to $2 billion in development, regulatory and commercial milestones. Adaptive was also eligible for royalties on sales of products resulting from the collaboration.
For six years, the partners advanced T cell receptor (TCR)-based therapies for cancer, with an eye toward tailoring treatment to the patient’s individual case. In May 2023, the collaboration secured its first Investigational New Drug clearance.
That same year, however, Roche pulled back from TCR therapies. In its first-quarter 2023 report just a few weeks earlier, the pharma discontinued two Phase I TCR assets that were being tested for solid tumors. Roche continued its retreat from this field and in April 2024 ended its $3 billion cell therapy collaboration with Adaptimmune. The companies first partnered in September 2021 to advance allogeneic T cell therapies for up to five cancer targets, as well as personalized T cell-based programs. Neither progressed past the discovery phase.
The pullback extends into Genentech as well. In August last year, the company shuttered its cancer immunology unit amid a sweeping review of the subsidiary’s oncology investments. R&D activities in this area were folded into its molecular oncology efforts. Ira Mellman, former vice president of Cancer Immunology, departed Genentech.
