Global pharmaceutical leader Pfizer has entered into a multi-year strategic collaboration with Cartography Biosciences to identify novel tumor-selective antigens. The partnership aims to address a long-standing challenge in oncology: targeting cancer cells with high precision while sparing healthy tissues.
Financial terms and strategic options The agreement carries a potential total deal value exceeding $850 million:
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Upfront and near-term capital: Cartography is set to receive up to $65 million in upfront payments, near-term milestones, and option exercise fees.
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Long-term incentives: The company is eligible for additional development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments totaling over $800 million.
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Royalties: Cartography will receive tiered royalties on net sales for any successful therapies advanced by Pfizer under this pact.
Technological edge The collaboration centers on Cartography’s proprietary ATLAS and SUMMIT platforms:
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Target resolution: These platforms integrate massive patient-derived datasets with AI to analyze hundreds of thousands of cell states. This allows for the discovery of highly specific antigens and antigen pairs that traditional tools cannot resolve.
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Operational split: Cartography will lead the initial discovery and validation phases, while Pfizer will take full responsibility for all subsequent research, clinical development, and commercialization of the selected targets.
Notably, Cartography’s lead asset, CBI-1214—a T-cell engager for colorectal cancer—is not included in this deal and will remain wholly owned and independently advanced by the company.