Mysterious BioNTech strikes $60m-plus cancer T cell deal with Lilly

Mainz-based BioNTech, which once called itself "the biggest European biotech that you have never heard of", has announced a research collaboration in cancer immunotherapies with Eli Lilly centered around the German company's assets and platform in T cell receptors (TCR) and chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR T cells). BioNTech will receive a $30m signing on fee and Lilly will make a $30m equity investment in BioNTech's subsidiary, Cell & Gene Therapies.