Interview with Harpreet Singh, Ph.D., CEO Immatics US, Inc., and Managing Director, Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH, Tuebingen

H. Singh: Immatics harnesses the potential of T cells to break new ground in the fight against cancer. Specialized immune cells, known as T cells, screen for unique peptide targets that are presented on the surface of cells, which help them distinguish an abnormal cell such as a cancer cell from a healthy cell. T cells use their T cell receptors (TCRs) to survey peptide-HLA (pHLA) targets. If T cells identify a cell as abnormal, they are activated and attack the abnormal cell, causing its destruction. This interplay between pHLA complexes and TCRs is a key component of the adaptive immune system and can also be employed in TCR-based immunotherapies against cancer. Immatics leverages its proprietary suite of technologies to identify pHLA targets as the basis for a broad range of potential TCR-based immunotherapies, designed to overcome the current limitations in immuno-oncology.

BIOTECH Insight: Many companies and scientists are currently working on this topic. How special is Immatics' approach compared to others, where do you see yourself positioned in the competition?

H. Singh: Immatics' approach starts with the highly specific identification of pHLA target structures present on cancer cells from patients (in contrast to artificial cell lines), but not or to a far lower amount present on normal cells. Immatics then develops custom-fit TCRs that can specifically bind to these peptide targets on the cancer cells. Using our in-house platforms XPRESIDENT®   and XCEPTOR®, we provide the perfect match of “true target” and “right TCR”. Based on the analyses of thousands of tumor samples as well as healthy tissue samples, XPRESIDENT® represents one of the world's largest databases of tumor targets. These technologies and our comprehensive database are the foundation for current and future programs in Immatics' clinical and preclinical pipeline.

BIOTECH Insight: The partnership between Immatics and Bristol Myers Squibb made headlines last year. On top of an agreement of up to US$1.5 billion from a 2019 collaboration agreement, BMS has added another nearly US$3 billion. Does the joy of validation outweigh the pressure or does it increase it even more?

H. Singh: The collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb is outstanding and based on trust. We were delighted to extend this partnership recently and view this as a further validation of our therapeutic approaches. Our mission at Immatics is to deliver the power of T cells to unlock new avenues for patients in their fight against cancer. We believe that partnerships such as the one with BMS, combining the expertise and capabilities of both companies, can bring us closer to this goal.

BIOTECH Insight: With these high amounts of performance-based payments, the so-called milestones: How much flexibility is left for the company to react adequately to new scientific findings? Or are the milestones also (in the worst case) rather a hindrance?

H. Singh: We receive performance-based payments for the achievement of certain development, regulatory and commercial milestones. This enables both companies to share the risk and value. We do not view milestones as a hindrance. For us, they represent defined intermediate goals on the path to get novel drug candidates to patients. Our partnerships always aim to leverage synergies to jointly advance science. The most important milestone of all is invaluable: enabling new or improved therapies for cancer patients – together with our partner.

BIOTECH Insight: Immunotherapies are being tested in ever new combinations, and the complexity of their application, but also of identifying suitable patients for a clinical trial, is continuously increasing. What impact does this have on clinical development at Immatics?

H. Singh: Patients in our clinical trials have undergone several rounds of prior treatments. We currently work together with renowned oncologists at 18 specialized cancer therapy centers in Germany and in the US to reach as many patients as possible.

BIOTECH Insight: Can you outline the time horizon, the timeline, when Immatics' now still early clinical pipeline could enter the particularly exciting phase for approval?

H. Singh: Our differentiated approaches are already showing promising results in clinical trials, for e.g., we recently announced an interim data update of our Phase 1 clinical trial with our proprietary cell therapy candidate, ACTengine® IMA203. The results demonstrated clinical response rates (confirmed objective response rate) of up to 50% at target dose in multiple solid tumor types. This was achieved in the last stage, i.e. after an average of 4 systemic pretreatments, not including surgery and radiation. This has actually been an unexpectedly good result in this patient population. Now we look forward to reporting more data throughout 2023 to further confirm these initial data, including  durability of response with a longer follow-up time.

BIOTECH Insight: As CEO of a German company, are you also in contact with European investors, or do you have points of contact with the European capital market?

H. Singh: Immatics is in regular contact with both US and EU biotech specialist investors as well as with the broader European financial community e.g., by participating in financial industry conferences such as the Kempen Life Sciences Conference and Bryan Garnier’s Innovation Series.