TScan Announces Collaboration with Novartis on the Discovery and Development of Novel T Cell Receptor Therapies for the Treatment of Solid Tumors

Collaboration will leverage TScan’s proprietary platform to discover novel targets and develop T Cell receptor therapies

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- TScan Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of T cell receptor (TCR) therapies which reprogram a patient’s own T cells to recognize shared cancer targets, today announced an agreement with Novartis to discover and develop novel TCR-engineered T cell therapies. The collaboration includes an upfront technology access fee and research funding totaling $30 million, and potential milestone payments contingent on clinical, regulatory and sales success that could aggregate in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The collaboration will leverage TScan’s proprietary platform to discover novel cancer antigens that may be targeted by TCR-based therapies.

“As one of the only companies able to efficiently discover novel cancer antigens that can be targeted with TCR-based therapies, we are delighted to be collaborating with Novartis to develop important TCR treatments,” said David P. Southwell, President and Chief Executive Officer, TScan. “We see expansive potential for our platform and this collaboration gives us the opportunity to work with Novartis to develop novel TCR therapies, while at the same time preserving our ability to develop our own proprietary pipeline in both liquid and solid tumors.”

Under the agreement, TScan will identify and characterize TCRs, and Novartis will have the option to license and develop TCRs for up to three novel targets. Novartis will also have rights of first negotiation for additional targets and TCRs that arise from the collaboration. In addition to the milestones, Novartis will pay TScan mid-single to low double-digit royalties on net sales for each product. TScan is free to develop TCRs against targets not licensed by Novartis.

“Novartis is a proven leader in the area of T cell therapy, and this collaboration helps us move rapidly and effectively toward our goal of delivering life-changing therapies to patients,” added Gavin MacBeath, Chief Scientific Officer, TScan.

About TScan Therapeutics

TScan discovers and develops transformative T cell therapies (TCR-T) to treat liquid cancers, solid tumors, and other serious diseases. Our proprietary, high-throughput platform identifies previously uncharacterized, clinically-derived shared T cell antigens and all off-target TCR interactions, to enable the development of highly efficacious TCR-Ts with minimal off-target effects. Lead program TSC-100 is expected to enter clinical development for liquid cancers in 2021, and the Company is advancing additional TCR-Ts for solid cancers. TScan was co-founded by Chair Christoph Westphal (Partner, Longwood Fund) based on pioneering research from the Elledge Lab of Harvard Medical School. The Company has raised over $80 million to date from leading strategic collaborators and investors including Longwood Fund, Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Astellas Venture Management, Novartis Venture Fund, Bessemer Venture Partners, GV, 6 Dimensions Capital, and Pitango Venture Capital.

For more information, please visit www.tscan.com.

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