Genentech is providing $70 million in funding for the multi-year project, which is aimed at identifying “critical success circuits” in T cell therapies used to treat cancer, along with undisclosed milestone payments.
A key focus of the alliance is to find ways to improve the efficacy of T cell therapies against solid tumours, which has been a stumbling block for developers.
So far, T cell therapies such as CAR-Ts have proved ineffective in treating solid tumours because of targeting and infiltration difficulties, and challenges in surviving the hostile microenvironment around the tumour mass.
