Licensing agreement deal value for innovative T-cell receptor (TCR) immunotherapy drugs surged in 2024, with European biopharmaceutical companies reporting a 325% surge ($921 million) from 2023 to 2024 year-to-date (YTD), compared to a 90.5% rise ($256 million) in the US, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

TCR-based immunotherapies harness their unique ability to recognize both antigens on cancer cells and intracellular antigens presented by the major histocompatibility complex, setting them apart from CAR-T cells, which primarily targets surface proteins.

Ophelia Chan, Business Fundamentals Senior Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “This advantage enables TCR immunotherapies to address a broader range of tumor antigens, including those that are challenging for other treatments to detect.”

The FDA approved UK-based Adaptimmune’s Tecelra (afamitresgene autoleucel) in August 2024, the first TCR gene therapy, to treat metastatic synovial sarcoma in adults. Despite challenges such as side effects and the complexity of manufacturing personalized treatments, this approval marks a major milestone for TCR immunotherapies and sets the stage for increased collaborations.

Europe’s uptick in TCR immunotherapy licensing agreements this year reflects the growing investment seen in recent years.

Chan adds: “Companies such as Anocca, Medigene, T-Knife, Immatics, and Immunocore are leading within the region by a number of active pipeline drugs.”

According to GlobalData’s Pharma Intelligence Center Deals Database, European companies reported a 123% increase compared to the US in securing $1.2 billion in licensing agreements for innovative TCR-based immunotherapies in 2024 so far, compared to $539 million by their US counterparts. Majority of these deals involve therapies in discovery and preclinical stages, with 17 and 12 deals, respectively, underscoring strong early-stage investment in TCR immunotherapies.

This year saw several high-value collaborations in the TCR immunotherapy space. In August 2024, Belgium-based Galapagos announced a strategic partnership worth up to $665 million with Adaptimmune Therapeutics, gaining exclusive rights to its next-generation TCR T-cell therapy, uzatresgene autoleucel currently in Phase I trials for MAGE-A4-targeted head and neck cancer. The therapy may expand to additional solid tumors and will utilize Galapagos’s decentralized manufacturing platform. Similarly, Boehringer Ingelheim partnered with 3T Biosciences, providing patient-derived TCR data to advance 3T’s antigen discovery platform, 3T-TRACE, aimed at developing next-generation cancer immunotherapies.

Chan concludes: “TCR immunotherapy is emerging as a breakthrough approach for treating solid tumors and other indications with its precision targeting and ability to address a wide range of tumor antigens. The surge in licensing deal values highlights growing confidence in TCR therapies and a strategic focus on early-stage assets, reflecting optimism about their potential to revolutionize cancer treatment.”

Note: Includes all announced and completed deals for companies headquartered in Europe and the US from 2020–2024YTD. Includes deals where at least one drug involved is an innovator TCR-based drug where Marketed, Pre-Registration, Phase III, Phase II, Phase I, Preclinical, and Discovery stages are considered. YTD= Year to date.