Following 2013 collaborations with Roche’s Genentech and GlaxoSmithKline, UK biotech Immunocore has added AstraZeneca’s MedImmune to its list of big pharma collaborators. The two companies will work together to research and develop therapies against selected cancer targets using Immunocore’s ImmTAC (immune mobilising monoclonal T-cell receptor against cancer) technology, which aims to redirect T-cells to destroy cancerous cells. MedImmune will pay Immunocore up to US$320 M in upfront and milestone payments per target programme plus tiered royalties. The deal is AstraZeneca’s third in oncology since the start of 2014 and will broaden its growing portfolio of immune-mediated cancer therapies.