Genen­tech dives in­to mR­NA, bet­ting $310M on BioN­Tech's per­son­al­ized can­cer vac­cine tech

Genen­tech is tap­ping in­to the promise of mes­sen­ger RNA for build­ing per­son­al­ized can­cer vac­cines. The gi­ant Roche sub­sidiary is part­ner­ing with Ger­many’s BioN­Tech on its in­di­vid­u­al­ized can­cer ther­a­pies, promis­ing $310 mil­lion in near-term pay­outs to col­lab­o­rate on a com­bo with its new­ly ap­proved check­point in­hibitor Tecen­triq (ate­zolizum­ab).

In this deal, BioN­Tech will con­tribute its per­son­al­ized can­cer vac­cine plat­form spot­light­ing unique neoanti­gens that can be iden­ti­fied in a can­cer pa­tient’s tu­mors, a trendy new tar­get of drug de­vel­op­ers like Grit­stone, Mod­er­na and Neon Ther­a­peu­tics. Phase I stud­ies are slat­ed to be­gin next year.

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