Tubulis GmbH is banking $22.75 million up front and could earn more than $1 billion in development, regulatory and commercial milestones from an alliance with Bristol Myers Squibb Co. focused on the design and development of antibody-drug conjugates for solid tumor applications. It would also receive tiered royalties on the sales of any products that emerge from the pact.
Immuneering Corp.’s positive pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and safety phase I data with universal RAS inhibitor IMM-1-104 let the company move up the timeline for a recommended phase II dose from previous guidance of mid-2024 to early next year.
Hanchorbio Inc. has received IND clearance by the FDA to initiate a clinical trial of HCB-101, for the treatment of patients with advanced solid tumors or relapsed and refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).
Checkpoint kinase 1 (CHK1) is involved in cell cycle arrest by activation of DNA damage response pathways. The aim of researchers from Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co. Ltd. was to develop a potent oral CHK1 inhibitor, XS-02, for the treatment of solid tumors.
Kinnate Biopharma Inc. has added two new internally developed next-generation development candidates to its targeted oncology pipeline, a brain-penetrant mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK) inhibitor and a highly selective hepatocyte growth factor receptor gene (c-Met) inhibitor.
At the ongoing AACR meeting, Amgen Inc. provided details on the discovery and preclinical characterization of AMG-305, a novel dual-targeting bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE) molecule, being developed as a potential new anticancer agent. While BiTE molecules offer a targeted immune therapy approach to treat cancer, on-target toxicity from normal tissue target expression has been a key issue in the development of T-cell engager molecules in solid tumors.
Merck & Co. Inc. has seen promise in Proxygen GmbH’s molecular glue degrader technology, agreeing to pay the drug discovery company up to $2.55 billion if specified research, development and commercial milestones are met.
Biontech SE has tapped into two of Duality Biologics Co. Ltd.’s antibody-drug conjugate candidates (ADCs), paying Duality $170 million up front and agreeing on development, regulatory and commercial milestone fees of $1.5 billion or more.
