According to the deal, Adaptimmune and Genentech will research and develop off-the-shelf cell therapies for up to five shared cancer targets. The companies will also develop an allogeneic personalized cell therapy platform. Adaptimmune will be responsible for developing clinical candidates using its induced pluripotent stem cell-derived allogeneic platform to produce T cells, which it calls iT cells. Genentech will be responsible for the input T-cell receptors and subsequent clinical development and commercialization.

Genentech will pay Adaptimmune $150 million upfront and $150 million over the next five years. Adaptimmune would be eligible for over $3 billion in aggregate payments for development, regulatory, and commercial milestones. Royalties would also be paid over multiple programs, according to the companies.

The agreement is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.