What 3T Biosciences does

3T Biosciences is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing TCR-based therapeutics for solid tumors and other immune-mediated diseases. Founded in 2017 in South San Francisco based on research from Dr. K. Christopher Garcia's laboratory at Stanford University, the company applies T-cell receptor biology to identify immunogenic targets that existing immunotherapies miss — addressing the roughly 80–85% of solid-tumor patients who do not achieve sustained remission on current immune therapies. Its lead therapeutic focus is bispecific T-cell engagers (TCEs), with additional modalities in peptide vaccines and novel TCR cell therapies.

The company's core technology is the proprietary 3T-TRACE (T-Cell Receptor Antigen and Cross-Reactivity Engine) platform, paired with the 3T-PRIME discovery platform. 3T-TRACE combines high-diversity experimental target libraries with active machine learning to identify the most prevalent and immunogenic TCR targets in solid tumors and to profile TCR/TCR-mimetic specificity and off-target cross-reactivity. The platform integrates an exclusive Stanford University license covering a TCR-mimetic antibody-based pHLA discovery engine plus development-stage MAGE-A3 TCR-T assets, enabling end-to-end progression from novel target identification through TCRm bispecific, peptide vaccine, and TCR cell therapy candidates.

3T operates a partnering-led business model. The company is pre-revenue on products but generates upfront payments, R&D support, and potential milestone payments under strategic collaboration and licensing agreements — most notably two agreements with Boehringer Ingelheim signed in January 2023 and January 2024 with combined milestone potential of $538.5 million plus royalties. The go-to-market motion is enterprise business development targeting biopharmaceutical collaborators, led by Chief Business Officer Christopher DeRespino and supported by a formal partnering function ([email protected]). The company is advancing toward first-in-human clinical studies in solid tumors, supported by approximately $52 million in disclosed equity financing ($12M seed, $40M Series A), a transatlantic academic research pipeline spanning Oxford, VIB-KU Leuven, UCSF, and Stanford, and recent C-suite additions including a Chief Medical Officer with CAR-T clinical development experience.

Name

3T Biosciences

Legal name

3TBiosciences, Inc.

Website

https://3tbiosciences.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

3T Biosciences is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company applying its proprietary 3T-TRACE platform — combining high-diversity target libraries with active machine learning — to discover TCR targets and engineer TCR-based bispecifics, peptide vaccines, and cell therapies for solid tumors and immune-mediated diseases, partnering with large biopharmaceutical companies to advance its pipeline.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Immuno-oncology Therapeutics

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414), Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing (3254)

SIC

Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836), Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834)

akta.pro primary industry

CAR-T & TCR-T Therapies (HLAAABAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Personalized Therapeutic Design (neoantigen vaccines, individualized cell/gene therapies) (HLAAANAK), Therapeutic Vaccines (cancer, chronic infection immunotherapy) (HLAAAEAB), Antibody Discovery & Engineering Platforms (display tech, bispecifics, Fc engineering) (HLAAAIAB)

Keywords

• TCR therapeutics discovery
• Immuno-oncology biologics
• Peptide-HLA targeting
• Bispecific T cell engagers
• TCR cell therapy

Headquarters

HQ city

Menlo Park

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Strategic Collaboration & Licensing Revenue: Revenue is generated via upfront payments, R&D support, and potential milestone payments from pharmaceutical partners licensing 3T's TCR-based therapeutic programs and discovery platform. Under the Boehringer Ingelheim agreements, 3T is eligible for discovery, preclinical, clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones for both agreements totaling $538.5 million in addition to royalties on future Boehringer Ingelheim product sales; the initial 2023 agreement alone specified up to $268 million in milestones plus royalties. Boehringer is also eligible to receive royalties on future product sales by 3T Biosciences arising from the agreements.
2. Seed/Series A Equity Capital: Pre-clinical/clinical-stage company funded through equity financings; $40 million Series A closed in 2022, following earlier seed financing from Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI), Hayan Health Networks, CRV, Asset Management Ventures, Thiel Capital, OS Fund, and Menlo Ventures. No product revenue yet — company is advancing lead pHLA-directed programs toward first-in-human clinical studies.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

3T Biosciences is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company that uses its proprietary 3T-TRACE discovery platform, combined with active machine learning and high-diversity target libraries, to identify novel T-cell receptor (TCR) targets in solid tumors and engineer TCR-mimetic (TCRm) therapeutics. The company develops three therapeutic modalities (TCRm bispecific T-cell engagers, peptide vaccines, and TCR cell therapies) and monetizes them primarily through strategic licensing and co-development agreements with biopharmaceutical partners.

Product overview

3T Biosciences is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company offering a platform-plus-modules architecture centered on its proprietary 3T-TRACE (T-Cell Receptor Antigen and Cross-Reactivity Engine) discovery platform, complemented by the 3T-PRIME discovery platform. The 3T-TRACE platform combines high-diversity target libraries with active machine learning to identify novel TCR targets in solid tumors and to engineer TCR-mimetic (TCRm) therapeutics, enabling three therapeutic modalities — TCRm bispecifics (the company's lead focus as bispecific T-cell engagers), peptide vaccines, and novel TCR cell therapies — across cancer and immune-mediated diseases. These platforms feed into 3T's pipeline of pHLA-directed therapeutic programs (including MAGE-A3 TCRs licensed from Stanford University) that are being advanced toward first-in-human clinical studies in solid tumors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 3T-TRACE: 3T's proprietary T-Cell Receptor Antigen and Cross-Reactivity Engine discovery platform, which combines high-diversity target libraries with active machine learning to identify novel TCR targets.
• 3T-PRIME

Products and services

• 3T-TRACE (T-Cell Receptor Antigen and Cross-Reactivity Engine) Proprietary discovery platform that combines high-diversity target libraries with active machine learning to identify novel TCR targets of productive immune responses against solid tumors and to comprehensively screen TCR and TCR-mimetic (TCRm) molecules for specificity and off-target cross-reactivities. Offered to biopharmaceutical partners through licensing and co-development agreements.
• 3T-PRIME Discovery Platform Proprietary companion discovery platform to 3T-TRACE that complements target identification and therapeutic optimization within 3T Biosciences' pipeline of TCR-based therapeutics.
• TCRm Bispecifics (T-Cell Receptor Mimetic Bispecific T-Cell Engagers) Bispecific antibody therapeutic format leveraging TCR-mimetic recognition of peptide-HLA targets to engage T cells against tumors; positioned as best-in-class against known targets and first-in-class against novel targets identified via 3T-TRACE. Lead bispecific T-cell engager programs are advancing toward first-in-human clinical studies.
• Peptide Vaccine Peptide vaccine modality designed as potent and antigen-specific T cell modulators applicable to oncology or autoimmunity indications, enabled by targets identified through the 3T-TRACE discovery platform.
• Novel TCR Cell Therapies Engineered T-cell receptor cell therapy modality targeting known and novel TCR targets, positioned as best-in-class against known targets and first-in-class against novel targets identified via 3T-TRACE.
• pHLA-directed therapeutic programs Differentiated pipeline of peptide-HLA-directed therapies (including lead bispecific T-cell engager programs) targeting solid tumors, being advanced toward first-in-human clinical studies.
• MAGE-A3 TCR-T assets (in-licensed from Stanford University) Development-stage MAGE-A3 TCR-T assets exclusively in-licensed from Stanford University to rapidly expand 3T Biosciences' therapeutic portfolio alongside the TCR-mimetic discovery platform.

Quantifiable outcome

• $538.5 million in combined milestone potential from Boehringer Ingelheim partnership agreements plus royalties
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature8 records

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Immunocore: Immunocore is the most directly comparable peer, commercializing ImmTAC (TCR-based) bispecifics for solid tumors (tebentafusp). Like 3T, it engineers TCRs against pHLA targets and pursues TCRm-like bispecific formats, making it the lead benchmark for 3T's TCE program.
• Adaptimmune: Adaptimmune develops engineered TCR-T cell therapies for solid tumors (e.g., MAGE-A4, NY-ESO SPEAR-TCRs), directly overlapping 3T's TCR cell therapy modality and target classes. It is one of the most advanced pure-play TCR-T competitors.
• Immatics: Immatics operates the XPRESIDENT target discovery platform and develops TCR-based therapeutics (TCR-T, TCR bispecifics) and adoptive cell therapies for solid tumors, closely mirroring 3T's platform-plus-multi-modality strategy.
• PACT Pharma: PACT Pharma pioneered personalized, neoantigen-targeted TCR-T cell therapies using high-throughput TCR discovery from patient samples — closely comparable to 3T-TRACE's patient-immune-response-driven target identification and TCR engineering.
• Adaptive Biotechnologies: Adaptive Biotechnologies combines high-throughput immune sequencing (TCR-Seq) with a discovery engine that maps TCR-antigen specificity, analogous to 3T-TRACE's ML-based TCR specificity profiling and target identification capabilities.
• Neogene Therapeutics: Neogene (acquired by AstraZeneca) developed personalized TCR-T therapies for solid tumors using neoantigen-targeted TCRs, a direct strategic parallel to 3T's TCR cell therapy modality and shared-target focus.
• T-Knife Therapeutics: T-Knife built a TCR-T platform for solid tumors (acquired by Roche), overlapping 3T's core modality and target class. Comparable because it pursued TCR-engineered adoptive cell therapies for the same indications.

Broad incumbents

• BioNTech: BioNTech has expanded from mRNA vaccines into TCR-based cell therapies and TCR-like bispecifics in oncology, representing a broader incumbent now competing across multiple modalities where 3T operates.
• Genentech (Roche): Roche/Genentech is a major immuno-oncology incumbent with multiple TCR, bispecific, and cell therapy programs. It is relevant as a potential partner/competitor with the scale and IO portfolio breadth that 3T benchmarks against.
• Moderna: Moderna is pursuing personalized neoantigen cancer vaccines and TCR-encoding mRNA approaches, overlapping with 3T's peptide vaccine modality and personalized therapeutic design ambitions.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/3tbio
• Facebookfacebook.com/pages/3T-Biosciences/1573833909380694
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/3tbiosciences
• Instagraminstagram.com/3tbio

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about 3T Biosciences