UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

Current Report

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of

the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): December 16, 2016

ADAPTIMMUNE THERAPEUTICS PLC

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

101 Park Drive, Milton Park

Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4RY

United Kingdom

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

(44) 1235 430000

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

Item 1.01. Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.

On December 16, 2016, Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc (the “Company”) and Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Bellicum”) entered into a Co-Development and Co-Commercialisation Agreement (the “Agreement”) in order to facilitate a staged collaboration to evaluate, develop and commercialize next generation T-cell therapies.

Under the Agreement, the parties agreed to evaluate Bellicum’s GoTCR technology (inducible MyD88/CD40 co-stimulation, or iMC) with the Company’s affinity-optimized SPEAR® T-cells for the potential to create enhanced TCR product candidates. Depending on results from the preclinical proof-of-concept phase, the parties expect to progress to a two-target co-development and co-commercialization phase. To the extent necessary, and in furtherance of the parties’ proof-of-concept and co-development efforts, the parties granted each other a royalty-free, non-transferable, non-exclusive license covering their respective technologies for purposes of facilitating such proof-of-concept and co-development efforts. In addition, as to covered therapies developed under the agreement, the parties granted each other a reciprocal exclusive license for the commercialization of such therapies.

With respect to any joint commercialization of a covered therapy, the parties agreed to negotiate in good faith the commercially reasonable terms of a co-commercialization agreement. The parties also agreed that any such agreement shall provide for, among other things, equal sharing of the costs of any such joint commercialization and the calculation of profit shares as set forth in the Agreement.

The Agreement will expire on a country-by-country basis once the parties cease commercialization of the T-cell therapies covered by the Agreement, unless earlier terminated by either party for material breach, non-performance or cessation of development, bankruptcy/insolvency, or failure to progress to co-development phase.

The description of the Agreement contained herein does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the complete text of the Agreement, including the exhibits thereto, a copy of which will be filed as an exhibit to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016.

Item 8.01. Other Events.

On December 19, 2016, the Company issued a press release announcing the Agreement.  A copy of the press release is furnished as Exhibit 99.1 to this report.

The information in Item 8.01 of this Form 8-K (including the attached Exhibit 99.1) shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, except as expressly set forth by specific reference in such a filing, regardless of any general incorporation language in any such filing, unless the Company expressly sets forth in such filing that such information is to be considered “filed” or incorporated by reference therein.

Item 9.01              Financial Statements and Exhibits.

(d)  Exhibits.  The following exhibit is furnished as part of this Report on Form 8-K:

2

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, hereunto duly authorized.

3

Exhibit Index

4