Genequantum Healthcare Co. Ltd. will work with Aimedbio Inc. to co-develop an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) to treat brain and other cancers, working toward an IND filing in 2023.

With 11 approved therapeutics in a diversity of targets and indications, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have proved their clinical mettle. But they have not yet reached their full clinical potential, which, in the opinion of Astrazeneca plc’s Kenneth Thress, could transform patient care. The strength of ADCs, he told the audience at an educational session at the 2022 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR 2022), is that it can turn anything into a targeted therapy.

After securing $70 million in series B funding, Chinese biotech Medilink Therapeutics Co. Ltd. is gearing up to enter the clinic with its next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).

Though conceptually understood for decades, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) haven’t begun to come into their own until recently, but oncology drug developers continue to wrestle with challenges, large among them the problem of antigen selection. Lately, companies including names such as Adagene Inc., Bioatla Inc. and Cytomx Therapeutics Inc., have taken particular interest in exploiting features of the cancer growth itself to add more oomph, with focus on special features of the tumor microenvironment (TME).

Wall Street was not as pleased as some might have expected by Immunogen Inc.’s full results from the pivotal study called Soraya testing mirvetuximab soravtansine (mirv) monotherapy in patients with folate receptor (FR) alpha-high, platinum-resistant ovarian cancer (PROC) who have been previously treated with Avastin (bevacizumab, Roche Holding AG). Analysts hailed the results as positive but shares (NASDAQ:IMGN) closed at $4.30, down 96 cents, or 18.25%.