The U.S. FDA has cleared Biocity Biopharma Co. Ltd.’s IND application for a phase I study of BC-2027. This is the company’s second first-in-class antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) to be approved for clinical trials, following BC-3195, which is directed against placental-cadherin (CDH3).
DXC-006 (Hangzhou DAC Biotechnology Co. Ltd.) is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that targets CD56, a molecule involved in cell-cell adhesion and cell-matrix adhesion that is overexpressed in neuroblastoma, small-cell lung cancer and multiple myeloma, but less frequently expressed in normal tissues. DXC-006 consists of an anti-CD56 antibody (DXA-006) linked to the topoisomerase 1 (TOP1) inhibitor CPT-116 through a linker.
At the AACR meeting, Innovent Biologics Inc. discussed the discovery and preclinical evaluation of a B7-H3/EGFR bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (bsADC).
It has been previously demonstrated that B7-H3 and EGFR are co-expressed in multiple solid tumors. At the ongoing AACR meeting in San Diego, researchers from Innovent Biologics Inc. presented preclinical data for their bispecific antibody (bsAb), IBI-334, against B7-H3 and EGFR.
Caris Discovery, the therapeutic research arm of Caris Life Sciences Inc., has established a multiyear strategic partnership with Merck KGaA to accelerate the discovery and development of first-in-class antibody-drug conjugates for cancer patients.
Aethon Therapeutics Inc. has entered into a collaboration agreement with Revolution Medicines Inc. under which Aethon will use its Hapimmune platform to discover novel bispecific antibodies to mount an immune attack directed towards cancer cells hit by Revolution Medicines’ RAS(ON) inhibitors.
Conformation-X Therapeutics LLC has closed an oversubscribed funding tranche of $3.65 million to support the company’s development of a pipeline of immunotherapies that activate both the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system.
Verismo Therapeutics Inc. has submitted an IND application to the FDA seeking to initiate a phase I trial this year of Synkir-310 for the treatment of relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (B-cell NHL), including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma and marginal zone lymphoma.
Cytomx Therapeutics Inc. has announced the nomination of the second clinical candidate under its Probody T-cell engaging bispecific (TCB) collaboration with Astellas Pharma Inc. The two companies are collaborating on multiple conditionally activated TCB programs, with T-cell engagers offering new possibilities for the treatment of solid tumors.