Roche's Genentech Terminates $2 Billion TCR-Based Cell Therapy Collaboration with Adaptive Biotechnologies

Recently, Genentech, a subsidiary of Roche, announced a major strategic adjustment, deciding to terminate a cell therapy collaboration project worth up to $2 billion.

This collaboration project began in January 2019, with Adaptive Biotechnologies as the partner, aiming to leverage Adaptive's T-cell receptor (TCR) technology to assist Genentech in developing personalized cancer therapeutics.

According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 18 this year, the collaboration and licensing agreement will officially terminate on February 9, 2026.

A Genentech spokesperson told the media: "We highly value Adaptive as an innovative company and partner, and we appreciate the efforts both parties have invested in this collaboration over the past six and a half years. As with any decision to terminate a partnership, we have made every effort to consider this matter carefully and comprehensively. This decision was not due to any newly emerged safety concerns."

Adaptive received an upfront payment of $300 million in the collaboration, along with potential milestone payments exceeding $2 billion.

Adaptive stated in the announcement: "We appreciate Genentech's support throughout the collaboration. We will continue to advance TCR discovery efforts, leveraging our digital TCR-antigen prediction model, which has the potential to drive the development of other novel immunology applications and partnership opportunities."

Roche this time""Breaching the contract"This is similar to a decision made in April 2024 — at that time, the Roche subsidiary withdrew from a cell therapy cooperation agreement with Adaptimmune worth up to $3 billion. At that time, Genentech also announced a 3% layoff in the same week. A few months later, this San Francisco Bay Area-based company announced a complete restructuring of its R&D operations system and disbanded its cancer immunology research department.

After a period of intensive external cooperation, Genentech underwent two rounds of layoffs this summer, in June and July respectively. About a month ago, the company also withdrew from an oncology research collaboration with Bicycle Therapeutics.

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