LONDON – In what is claimed as the largest series A for a Danish biotech, Adcendo ApS has raised €51 million (US$61.3 million) to take forward antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) drugs aimed at proprietary targets that are involved in cellular recycling processes.
In an unusual move for a Chinese company, Bio-Thera Solutions Ltd. terminated the clinical development of its Trop2 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), BAT-8003, and its PD-1 monoclonal antibody, BAT-1306, a month after it halted the phase III-stage HER2-ADC candidate BAT-8001.
Days after taking the unusual step, for a Chinese company, of terminating a couple of clinical programs, Bio-Thera Solutions Ltd. said it still plans to continue R&D in antibody-drug conjugates, but with a new technology platform, the company told BioWorld.
In an unusual move for a Chinese company, Bio-Thera Solutions Ltd. terminated the clinical development of its Trop2 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), BAT-8003, and its PD-1 monoclonal antibody, BAT-1306, a month after it halted the phase III-stage HER2-ADC candidate BAT-8001.
Sutro Biopharma Inc.’s stock-perking news in early December with STRO-002, a folate receptor alpha-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) to treat ovarian cancer, reminded investors of potential in the class, which has been more than realized in recent years and could yield more upside in the near term. As of the Oct. 30 cutoff date, STRO-002 tallied one complete response and nine partial responses in the challenging indication, which works out to an overall response rate of 32% (10 out of 31) in evaluable patients.
DUBLIN – Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH is paying up to €1.18 billion (US$1.4 billion) to acquire antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) developer NBE-Therapeutics AG. The deal includes an undisclosed up-front payment, plus development and regulatory milestones linked to the progress of NBE’s pipeline of clinical and preclinical ADC programs.
In another multibillion-dollar bid to further strengthen its oncology pipeline, Merck & Co. Inc. is set to acquire privately held Velosbio Inc. for $2.75 billion in cash. Velosbio is developing cancer therapies targeting receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1. The company’s follow-on programs include next-generation antibody-drug conjugates and bispecific immune-engagers targeting ROR1, which it has been developing for nearly two years.
LONDON – Araris Biotech AG has raised CHF12.7 million (US$16.8 million) in a seed funding round to take forward what it claims is the holy grail for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), a linker technology that allows for the attachment of any payload to any antibody, without the need for engineering.
About two weeks after European regulators gave their go-ahead for Blenrep (belantamab mafodotin-blmf), the B cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-targeting therapy from Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK) for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (MM), the FDA did likewise.
LONDON – Astrazeneca plc is broadening its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) relationship with Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. in a potential $6 billion development and commercialization deal. The two companies are to work together on DS-1062, Daiichi’s trophoblast antigen2 (TROP2) ADC, which is in phase I development in multiple tumors that express the cell surface glycoprotein. These include breast cancer and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), areas of strategic focus for Astrazeneca. The agreement builds on the March 2019 $6.9 billion pact between the two for Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan), the HER2-targeted ADC now on course for blockbuster status, following FDA approval in December 2019 and U.S. launch at the start of the year.
