BioNTech and Medigene enter global cancer collaboration

German biotech BioNTech (Nasdaq: BNTX), which has earned billions of dollars through its COIVD-19 vaccine development with Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), is looking to expand its business into new areas.

BioNTech has now entered a multi-target research collaboration to develop T cell receptor (TCR) based immunotherapies against cancer with fellow Germany-based Medigene (FSE: MDG). The initial term of the collaboration is three years.

Medigene will contribute its proprietary TCR discovery platform for the development of TCRs against multiple solid tumor targets nominated by BioNTech. Medigene’s automated, high throughput TCR discovery platform is designed to bypass central tolerance to yield high affinity TCRs. T cell therapy has become a disruptive medical innovation in the treatment of patients with cancer. Engineered TCR-modified T cells (TCR-T cells) are reprogrammed to express a TCR that can recognize specific antigens only present on tumor cells, thereby enabling a precise and potent immune response to attack a patient’s tumor.