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Genentech has announced plans to terminate its multi-billion-dollar partnership with Adaptive Biotechnologies, marking another major cutback in its ongoing downsizing strategy. The collaboration, launched in 2019, was originally worth up to $2 billion and centered on using Adaptive’s T-cell receptor (TCR) technology to create personalized cancer therapies. According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the deal will officially end in February 2026.
Adaptive’s TruTCR platform was designed to identify T-cell receptors that recognize the unique antigens of a patient’s cancer, a crucial step toward tailoring immunotherapies. While Genentech has decided to walk away, both companies stressed that the termination was not due to safety concerns. Adaptive, which received $300 million upfront, said it remains committed to advancing TCR discovery through its digital antigen-prediction model and is expanding into autoimmune applications.
This isn’t the first time Genentech has walked away from a high-profile cell therapy pact. Earlier in 2024, it ended a $3 billion collaboration with Adaptimmune, coinciding with significant layoffs and a restructuring of its R&D organization, including the closure of its cancer immunology research unit. More recently, Genentech has also terminated a partnership with Bicycle Therapeutics.
Taken together, these moves reflect a broader strategic shift and cost-cutting drive within the Roche subsidiary. While the company continues to pursue new scientific avenues, the repeated withdrawal from high-risk, high-cost cell therapy programs suggests Genentech is reassessing where it places its biggest R&D bets in a competitive and uncertain biotech landscape.
