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Roche’s Genentech unit and Repertoire Immune Medicines have entered into a partnership worth $765m to discover and develop T cell-targeted immune medicines for an undisclosed autoimmune disease. The collaboration and licence agreement centres around Repertoire’s DECODE platform, which will be used to generate target discoveries that Genentech will further optimise and translate into new drugs. Autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis, affect more than 50 million people in the US. They occur when the immune system is unable to distinguish between healthy cells and invading pathogens. Repertoire’s platform is designed to map the immune synapse, offering a comprehensive overview of the interactions between T cell receptors and their cognate antigenic epitopes. Boris Zaïtra, head of Roche corporate business development, said: “As we seek new opportunities to bring an even greater impact to patients, we look forward to translating the new discoveries DECODE and the team at Repertoire will reveal to develop novel medicines for patients suffering from autoimmune diseases.” Under the terms of the agreement, Repertoire will lead target discovery activities using its platform, while Genentech will take on responsibility for preclinical and clinical development, as well as global commercialisation of therapies that utilising the target discovery work. In exchange, the Flagship Pioneering-founded biotech will be eligible to receive $35m upfront and up to $730m in development, regulatory and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalties. “The enormous breadth of DECODE’s therapeutic target discovery potential is well beyond what we could realise on our own,” said Torben Straight Nissen, chairman and chief executive officer of Repertoire, and executive partner at Flagship Pioneering. “Given Genentech’s commitment and experience… in developing treatments for autoimmune diseases, we are delighted to partner with them to bring medicines to patients that reset the immune system and have the potential to provide significant therapeutic benefits,” he added. The collaboration comes just one month after Roche entered into a partnership worth over $1bn with Oxford BioTherapeutics to discover new antibody-based therapeutics for cancer. Roche also announced an exclusive collaboration and licensing agreement with Zealand Pharma in March to advance Zealand’s mid-stage obesity candidate petrelintide, and gained exclusive global rights to Innovent Biologics’ DLL3-targeted antibody drug conjugate candidate in January.

The platform enables an understanding of the interactions between T cell receptors and their corresponding antigenic epitopes. Credit: THICHA SATAPITANON / Shutterstock. Repertoire Immune Medicines has signed a partnership and licensing agreement with Roche’s Genentech, focusing on the discovery and development of T cell-targeted immune medicines for treating an autoimmune condition. In this partnership, Repertoire will deploy its DECODE platform to identify therapeutic targets. The company will spearhead the target discovery activities, utilising its platform to investigate a vast antigenic space. Genentech will take the helm for the subsequent preclinical and clinical development, alongside the therapies’ worldwide commercialisation. Repertoire stands to obtain an upfront payment of $35m from Genentech, with the potential for up to $730m in additional development, commercial and regulatory milestones, alongside tiered royalties. Roche corporate business development head Boris Zaïtra said: “As we seek new opportunities to bring an even greater impact to patients, we look forward to translating the new discoveries DECODE and the team at Repertoire will reveal to develop novel medicines for patients suffering from autoimmune diseases.” GlobalData Strategic Intelligence US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate? Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis. By GlobalData Learn more about Strategic Intelligence The platform is at the heart of Repertoire’s approach, designed to map out the immune synapse. This technology enables an understanding of the interactions between T cell receptors and their corresponding antigenic epitopes. Founded in 2019 by Flagship Pioneering, Repertoire functions from its bases in the US and Switzerland. Repertoire Immune Medicines CEO, chairman, and Flagship Pioneering executive partner Torben Straight Nissen said: “Repertoire’s DECODE platform uniquely maps the entire immune synapse in patients and thereby enables development of transformative T cell-targeted medicines for autoimmune diseases and cancer. “Given Genentech’s commitment and experience as the global market leader in developing treatments for autoimmune diseases, we are delighted to partner with them to bring medicines to patients that reset the immune system and have the potential to provide significant therapeutic benefits.” The partnership with Genentech follows a previous collaboration in April 2024, where Repertoire joined forces with Bristol Myers Squibb to develop tolerising vaccines aimed at autoimmune conditions.

Repertoire Immune Medicines\' platform maps out patients’ immune synapses, the interface where antigen-presenting cells and immune cells like T cells and B cells interact.\n Roche’s Genentech has inked a deal with Repertoire Immune Medicines aimed at discovering and developing T-cell-targeted medicines in the autoimmune disease space.Flagship Pioneering-backed Repertoire will leverage its immune-modeling platform in efforts to discover new targets in an undisclosed autoimmune condition, after which Genentech will take over preclinical and clinical development plus any potential commercialization activities, according to an April 23 release.Genentech is paying Repertoire $35 million while offering up to $730 million in additional development, regulatory and commercial milestones as well as tiered royalties, according to the release.Repertoire’s platform, dubbed Decode, maps out patients’ immune synapses, the interface where antigen-presenting cells and immune cells like T cells and B cells interact.“Given Genentech’s commitment and experience as the global market leader in developing treatments for autoimmune diseases, we are delighted to partner with them to bring medicines to patients that reset the immune system,” Torben Straight Nissen, Ph.D., chair and CEO of Repertoire and executive partner at Flagship Pioneering, said in the release. Repertoire’s current pipeline is entirely preclinical, consisting of a suite of T-cell receptor bispecifics for various cancers and next-generation vaccines for cancer and autoimmune disease.Initially launched in 2020, the biotech rounded up a $189 million series B financing in 2021. But, in 2022, Repertoire hit the reset button by swapping CEOs, halving its workforce and axing two assets. The top-down shake-up came after the company’s lead assets at the time—autologous cell therapies being tested in HPV-positive tumors—showed meager effects in phase 1 trials, leading Repertoire to halt the studies.It was then that Nissen, a former Pfizer strategy executive who joined Flagship in 2016 as a senior partner and president of Rubius Therapeutics, took the helm of Repertoire.In April 2024, the revamped biotech snagged its first Big Pharma partnership. Bristol Myers Squibb bought into Repertoire’s autoimmune tolerizing vaccines, pledging up to $1.8 billion in biobucks to develop shots for three autoimmune diseases. The biotech is leading activities up to development candidate nomination, after which BMS will take over clinical development.