SQZ Biotech Partners With Roche to Develop Cell Therapy Treatment for Cancer

SQZ Biotech has partnered with Swiss drug giant Roche to develop a cell therapy platform to enable a patient’s immune cells to fight a range of cancers.

Under the agreement — valued at $500 million in upfront and milestone payments — SQZ will provide its technology to engineer B cells as a therapeutic platform for oncology. Specifically, the technology introduces proteins into a patient’s B-cells that help activate killer T-cells to attack the cancer.