Two deals for antibody-drug conjugates inked since May between Merck & Co. Inc. and Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. have blossomed eight months later into the year’s biggest agreement, one that could bring Kelun-Biotech up to $9.3 billion in development, regulatory and sales milestones. The exclusive license and collaboration deal has Merck paying an up-front $175 million to Kelun-Biotech plus promising to make an equity investment in the Sichuan, China-based company.
Two deals for antibody-drug conjugates inked since May between Merck & Co. Inc. and Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. have blossomed eight months later into the year’s biggest agreement, one that could bring Kelun-Biotech up to $9.3 billion in development, regulatory and sales milestones.
South Korean biotech Pinotbio Co. Ltd. inked a $250 million (₩320 billion) licensing deal with Princeton, N.J.-based Conjugatebio Inc. to develop 10 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targets with Pinotbio’s ADC platform technology. The deal announced on Dec. 21 adds to a previous agreement between the two companies last year. Pinotbio and Conjugate first teamed up to discover and develop five ADC targets in June 2022.
Magenta Therapeutics Inc., the developer of an antibody-drug conjugate intended to help prep certain relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome patients for stem cell transplant or gene therapy, has stopped dosing the drug in part of an ongoing trial after observing two cases of serious adverse events (SAEs) possibly related to the candidate.
Several STING agonists have demonstrated antitumor efficacy in preclinical studies and are currently under clinical development. However, systemic administration of STING agonists may have adverse effects, while intratumoral injection is limited by tumor accessibility. Therefore, systemic delivery of STING agonists specifically targeted to tumors emerges as a potential strategy to overcome these limitations.
Researchers from Tubulis GmbH presented preclinical data for a CD30-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), TUB-010, being developed as a potential anticancer immunotherapy candidate.
CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. has received IND approval from the FDA for a phase I study in the U.S. of its antibody-drug conjugate CPO-204 in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer.
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