ADAM9 (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase 9) is overexpressed in several gastrointestinal cancers, with expression levels correlating with suppressive tumor microenvironment, metastasis and poor prognosis. DB-1317, under development at Duality Biologics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., is an ADAM9-targeting antibody-drug conjugate including a topoisomerase inhibitor payload P1003 at a drug-antibody ratio of 8.
ALX Oncology Inc. has developed ALX-2004, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) with a topoisomerase I inhibitor payload, for treating EGFR+ cancer solid tumors.
Alethio Therapeutics (formerly known as Alethiomics Ltd.) has emerged from stealth with two antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) programs for the treatment of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs).
French VC Andera Partners has reached the first close of its Biodiscovery Fund 7 at more than €300 million (US$349 million) and says it is on track to surpass the size of the previous fund, which closed at €456 million during the pandemic-driven boom of 2021.
Scientists at Wuxi XDC (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. and Wuxi XDC Singapore Pvt Ltd. have divulged antibody-drug conjugates comprising antibodies covalently linked to cytotoxic drugs reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.; Shanghai Hengrui Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. have synthesized antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) comprising a claudin 6 (CLDN6)-targeting antibody linked to cytotoxic drug through linker. They are described as potentially useful for the treatment of ovarian cancer.
Kivu Bioscience Inc. has released new preclinical efficacy and safety data on KIVU-107, a novel PTK7-targeting antibody-drug conjugate with a DAR4 exatecan payload. KIVU-107 is designed to be highly stable in circulation with negligible free payload release, maximizing on-tumor activity while minimizing off-target toxicity.
A year and half from its inception, Adcytherix SAS has raised a €105 million (US$122 million) series A, enabling it to take the lead antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) program into clinical development next year.
Beijing Chempion Biotechnology Co. Ltd. has synthesized antibody-drug conjugates comprising antibodies targeting folate receptor α (FOLR1; FR-α) covalently linked to a cytotoxic drug through a linker reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Ovarian cancer remains unresponsive to immune checkpoint inhibitors due to its ability to suppress cytotoxicity from immune cells that are infiltrating the tumor, where the O-glycosylation pathway may be disrupted. Precision Biologics Inc. is developing PB-vcMMAE-5, an antibody-drug conjugate composed of the monoclonal antibody PB-223, which targets tumor-specific truncated core-2 O-glycans, conjugated to microtubule inhibitor MMAE and with a drug-to-antibody ratio of 3.92.