Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (Nasdaq:ADAP), a leader in T-cell therapy to treat cancer, today announced that GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE:GSK) (NYSE:GSK) has exercised its option under a collaboration and license agreement signed in 2014 to exclusively license the right to research, develop, and commercialize Adaptimmune’s NY-ESO SPEAR T-cell therapy program. Further details will be provided in a conference call scheduled for 8:30 AM EDT this morning; dial-in and webcast details are provided below.

Adaptimmune will receive up to £48 million (~$61 million) from GSK over the course of the transition period. This includes development milestones of up to £18 million (~$23 million) and the option payment of £30 million (~$38 million), which also allows GSK to nominate two additional targets following completion of the transition. Successful continuation of development and subsequent commercialization of NY-ESO would trigger additional payments for development milestones, tiered sales milestones, and mid-single to low double-digit royalties on worldwide net sales.

“This is a very exciting day for Adaptimmune as GSK has exercised its option over our NY-ESO program, earlier than originally planned,” commented James Noble, Chief Executive Officer at Adaptimmune. “The commitment by one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies to the NY-ESO SPEAR T-cell program as a new treatment modality is a testament to the strength of our data in synovial sarcoma recently presented at ASCO. From a financial perspective, this option exercise extends our cash runway into 2020. We anticipate the transition of NY-ESO to GSK to be completed over the coming months, after which we will focus our clinical resources on delivery and execution from our wholly-owned assets MAGE-A4, MAGE-A10, and AFP.”

Axel Hoos, SVP Oncology R&D, GSK said “The aim of GSK’s R&D is to develop medicines with transformational potential for patients.We have seen compelling data for the NY-ESO investigational cell therapy in synovial sarcoma and, following this option exercise, we will capitalize on our in-house Cell and Gene Therapy capabilities to support the development program for GSK3377794. We will continue to explore the potential for this novel cell therapy in multiple tumor types, and in combination with other cancer therapies.”