Roche and Immunocore to ally on cancer research

Roche has entered into a partnership with Immunocore that will involve the creation of innovative new therapies for various cancer types.

The alliance between Roche's Genentech subsidiary and Immunocore will centre on the discovery and development of multiple novel cancer targets using ImmTAC technology, a world-leading platform of bi-specific biological drugs.

By exploiting the power of T-cell receptors to recognise intracellular changes that occur during cancer or viral infection, this technology can target cancerous cells more effectively, while leaving healthy tissue undamaged.

Immunocore will receive an initiation fee of up to $20 million (13.15 million pounds) per programme and is also eligible to receive in excess of $300 million in development and commercial milestone payments, plus tiered royalties.

James Sabry, senior vice-president of Genentech Partnering, said: "We hope this collaboration will lead to breakthrough therapies for cancer patients with unmet medical needs."

This comes after Roche announced a collaboration with Isis Pharmaceuticals earlier this year that will involve the development of new Huntington's disease therapies.