Roche will partner with SQZ Biotech to develop a cell therapy platform that would empower a patient’s own immune cells to fight a broad range of cancers, in an immuno-oncology collaboration that could generate more than $500 million for SQZ.
The proposed therapy involves applying SQZ’s “CellSqueeze” technology—which entails engineering B cells as an oncology therapeutic platform—in order to introduce tumor-associated proteins into a patient’s B-cells which will then help activate killer T-cells to attack the cancer.
Cell squeeze technology is a microfluidic chip that enables the delivery of materials into almost any cell type, including primary human-derived cells. SQZ maintains the exclusive worldwide license from MIT for CellSqueeze for any application.
“In collaboration with the renowned team at Roche, we seek to engineer a patient’s own immune system to target tumors more effectively and bring hope to people suffering from cancer,” SQZ Founder and CEO Armon Sharei, Ph.D., said in a statement.