Antibody-drug conjugate developer Duality Biotherapeutics Inc. debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) with a HK$1.64 billion (US$211.4 million) IPO April 15, making it one of the biggest offerings made under the HKEX’s Chapter 18A listing regime since 2020.
Phase I/II trial results of sacituzumab tirumotecan (sac-TMT; Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd.) published in Nature Medicine came a month after China’s National Medical Products Administration gave clearance to Kelun-Biotech’s supplemental NDA of sac-TMT to treat advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
ABL Bio Inc. announced April 7 that it sealed a potential £2.075 billion (US$2.65 billion) license deal with GSK plc, granting GSK global rights to use ABL’s blood-brain barrier (BBB) penetrating bispecific antibody platform, Grabody-B, to develop multiple programs in the neurodegenerative disease arena. Under the terms signed April 5, ABL agreed to transfer Grabody-B-related technology and know-how to GSK, upon which GSK will assume responsibility for preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization.
Elevation Oncology Inc. has nixed its lead pipeline product, a claudin 18.2 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) called EO-3021, on disappointing phase I data, sending shares tumbling by 42% and placing its preclinical HER3 ADC to the forefront of development.
The antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) juggernaut powers on, with Japan’s Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. set to acquire Araris Biotech AG for up to $1.14 billion. Of that, $400 million will be up front, with the remainder tied to milestones with a maximum value of $740 million, around the progress of three ADCs for treating solid and hematological cancers.
Alteogen Inc. signed its first billion-dollar partnership this year for ALT-B4 technology through two separate contracts with Astrazeneca plc’s U.K.- and U.S.-based Medimmune subsidiaries worth up to $1.35 billion combined.
Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)-focused Callio Therapeutics debuted on March 3 with the closing of a $187 million series A financing round based on cancer drug technology and assets in-licensed from Hummingbird Bioscience Pte Ltd.
Antibody-drug conjugate developer Duality Biotherapeutics Inc. is gearing up for a second IPO attempt this year, having filed on Feb. 27 a new prospectus on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Two other biotechs – Genuine Biotech Ltd. and Cloudbreak Pharma Inc. – also are having another go at a listing in Hong Kong in 2025.
Radiance Biopharma Inc. bought its way into the ROR1 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) space through a potential $1 billion-plus licensing deal, including a $15 million up-front payment, with CSPC Megalith Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. for rights to RB-164 (SYS-6005) in the U.S. and select countries.
Corbus Pharmaceuticals Inc. has placed its chips on “bets where somebody else is ahead of us,” CEO Yuval Cohen said. “The idea is to have a de-risked asset” that proves better in the clinic. At the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary (ASCO GU) Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, Corbus offered data from the U.S. and U.K. first-in-human dose-escalation study – the Western trial – with Nectin-4-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) CRB-701 (SYS-6002).