In July, the immunotherapy biotech Jounce Therapeutics, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, hit pay dirt in signing its first partnership. In a deal potentially worth over $2 billion, Celgene of Summit, New Jersey, and Jounce will co-develop and co-commercialize Jounce's lead compound JTX-2011, a monoclonal antibody targeting the inducible T cell co-stimulator (ICOS), which is a member of the immune checkpoint family of proteins and provides an agonistic stimulus for T cell activation. Jounce, founded in 2013 by a stellar group of cancer immuno-oncologists, joins a long list of immunotherapy companies in which Celgene has invested (Nat. Biotechnol. 33, 892–893, 2015). Other investments include one in Juno Therapeutics of Seattle, which is developing CAR-T cell based immunotherapies, and a collaboration with London-based AstraZeneca, which has a checkpoint inhibitor (durvalumab) in clinical trials. Under the terms of the deal, Jounce will get $225 million up front, with a $36 million investment in the company. In return, Celgene will get 40% share of the US profits from JTX-2011, which is still in clinical development, 75% for those from an unnamed successor, and 50% of up to three other programs.