Medigene AG

bluebird bio and Medigene establish strategic T cell receptor (TCR) alliance in cancer immunotherapy

Medigene AG / Medigene AG: bluebird bio and Medigene establish strategic T cell receptor (TCR) alliance in cancer immunotherapy . Processed and transmitted by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

• T cell receptor (TCR) therapeutic candidates against four targets to be generated using Medigene's proprietary TCR technology platform and bluebird bio's lentiviral vector, genome editing, synthetic biology, and manufacturing capabilities

Medigene responsible for the generation and delivery of the TCRs to bluebird bio

Joint preclinical development of all product candidates

bluebird bio responsible for clinical development and commercialization of resulting products

Medigene to receive an upfront payment of USD 15 million, R&D funding, potential preclinical, clinical and commercial milestone payments, which together could total over USD 1 billion, in addition to royalties on net sales

bluebird bio will hold worldwide development and commercial rights and exclusive license for IP covering the TCRs

Medigene conference call and webcast (in English) today, 29 September 2016, at 3:00 pm CEST (9:00 am EDT)

Martinsried/Munich and Cambridge, MA, 29 September 2016. Medigene AG (MDG1, Frankfurt, Prime Standard), Germany, and bluebird bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLUE), USA, today announced the signing of a strategic research and development collaboration and licensing agreement encompassing T cell receptor (TCR) immunotherapies against four targets.

"We are delighted to collaborate with bluebird bio, a leader in the field of cell and gene therapy, including cancer immunotherapy," said Dolores J. Schendel, Chief Executive Officer and chief scientific officer, Medigene. "With its T cell immunotherapy expertise and outstanding gene delivery and genome editing capabilities, bluebird bio is an ideal partner for us to jointly discover and develop a new generation of T cell therapeutics to treat unmet oncology indications."

"Medigene's proprietary technology to generate highly active natural TCRs makes them an ideal partner, enabling us to broaden our pipeline with TCR-based product candidates against four new targets and continue to build our leadership in immuno-oncology," said Rick Morgan, Ph.D., Vice President of Immunotherapy, bluebird bio. "This agreement exploits our core expertise in lentiviral gene transfer, genome editing and synthetic biology, and leverages our manufacturing and clinical development capabilities to build a broad, fully integrated immuno-oncology franchise."