Jumping in for the first time to the hot antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) space, Paris-based Ipsen SA pulled in exclusive global rights to a preclinical ROR1-targeting candidate from Sutro Biopharma Inc. in a deal worth up to $900 million. STRO-003, the first ADC to join Ipsen’s portfolio, contains an anti-ROR1 human IgG1 antibody (SP-11385) conjugated to an exatecan warhead, or payload.
South Korean confectionary giant Orion Holdings Inc. has completed the acquisition of antibody-drug conjugate developer Ligachem Biosciences Inc., which recently changed its name from Legochem Bioscience Inc.
Samsung Life Science Fund, created jointly by Samsung Biologics Co. Ltd., Samsung Biopeis Co. Ltd. and Samsung C&T Corp., said it invested in Waltham, Mass.-based antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) developer Brickbio Inc. on March 18, as its fifth biotech investment.
Chinese biotechs Biotheus Inc. and Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. partnered again under a new potential ¥5 billion (US$698.98 million) deal to develop bispecific antibody-drug conjugates (BsADCs), using Biotheus’ EGFR-cMet bispecific antibody.
Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) specialist Tubulis GmbH has closed a hefty €128 million (US$139.4 million) series B2 round, more than double the €60 million it raised in its series B1 two years ago.
The EMA validated two marketing approval applications of Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. and Astrazeneca plc’s antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) datopotamab deruxtecan (dato-dxd) on Mar. 4, for two types of lung and breast cancer.
The U.S. FDA has accepted for review Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd.’s and Astrazeneca plc’s BLA for datopotamab deruxtecan (dato-dxd) to treat adults with locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous non-small-cell lung cancer who have received prior systemic therapy.
Raising $94 million in a series A round, South San Francisco-based Firefly Bio Inc. has emerged from stealth to advance its Firelink linker platform technology to develop degrader-antibody conjugates (DACs) to treat cancer. A combination of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and targeted protein degradation therapies, DACs are a new class of medicines that have recently gained attention for their ability to replace toxic ADC payloads and to eliminate cancer-driven proteins.
Shares of Corbus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:CRBP) doubled on opening Jan. 26 and ended the day up a whopping 249% as investors got a look at data from a first-in-human study testing next-generation Nectin-4-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) CRB-701. Licensed from CSPC Pharmaceutical Group for $7.5 million up front in February 2023, CRB-701 has IND clearance from the U.S. FDA, and Corbus plans to start its own clinical testing in the first quarter of 2024.
Biontech SE and Duality Biologics Co. Ltd. have progressed BNT-323/DB-1303 to pivotal phase III trials, beginning in China in patients with hormone receptor-positive and HER2-low metastatic breast cancer.