GSK plc is the latest pharma giant to bite the “magic bullet” of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) drugs, promising to pay the Chinese immunotherapy developer Hansoh Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. $85 million up front and over $1.4 billion in milestone payments in a licensing deal for HS-20089.

Deals involving antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapies continue to gain momentum with Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. and Merck & Co. Inc. the latest firms to team up on global development and commercialization activities, as Daiichi offers up rights to three of its potentially first-in-class ADC candidates for $22 billion, making it the largest ADC agreement to date.

Sotio Biotech AS, a company owned by PPF Group, has entered into a license and option agreement with Synaffix BV, a Lonza company, to develop next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for the treatment of solid tumors.

Medilink Therapeutics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. has entered into a strategic research collaboration and worldwide license agreement with Biontech SE for the development of a next-generation antibody-drug conjugate candidate (ADC) against HER3.

Imidomics Inc. has entered into a strategic license and collaboration agreement with the University of Barcelona under which Imidomics has licensed technology and expertise to advance research aimed at understanding and treating immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.

Kriya Therapeutics Inc. has entered into an exclusive license, collaboration and supply agreement with Everads Therapy Ltd. to advance Kriya’s portfolio of gene therapies for retinal diseases using Everads’ suprachoroidal delivery device.

Acurastem Inc. has entered into a license agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. to develop and commercialize Acurastem’s PIKFYVE-targeted therapeutics, including AS-202, an innovative antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Ferronova Pty Ltd. has signed a licensing agreement with the Purdue Research Foundation (PRF) for the application of PRF's fibroblast activation protein (FAP) inhibitor in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and MRI-guided therapies.

Verismo Therapeutics Inc. has entered into a licensing agreement with the University of Pennsylvania for worldwide exclusive rights for two newly discovered anti-CD19 binders, the result of a sponsored research agreement between the two parties.