On November 18, it was announced that VelaVigo has entered into a global strategic cooperation agreement with Avenzo Therapeutics. According to the agreement, Avenzo Therapeutics will obtain the rights to develop, produce, and commercialize VelaVigo's Nectin4/TROP2-targeted bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) worldwide, excluding Greater China. VelaVigo will receive an upfront payment of up to USD 50 million and recent milestone payments, with up to USD 750 million in subsequent milestone payments upon achieving key milestones in development, regulatory approval, and sales, as well as tiered royalties based on sales in the licensed territories.
VelaVigo is a biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of multispecific antibodies and ADCs. Since founded in 2021, it has established extensive R&D pipelines covering more than ten first-in-class/best multispecific antibodies and ADC molecules, which focus on fields such as oncology and autoimmune diseases. In addition, with the aim of enhancing global clinical development and collaboration, VelaVigo has also established VelaVigo Bio in the United States.
This collaboration represents a crucial part of VelaVigo's globalization strategy, which also puts bispecific ADCs in the spotlight. Incomplete statistics shows that multiple bispecific ADCs from China have gone global before this:
In December 2023, SystImmune, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Biokin Pharmaceutical in the United States, and Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) reached an exclusive licensing and cooperation agreement for BL-B01D1, a bispecific ADC targeting EGFR/HER3 developed by Biokin Pharmaceutical. According to the agreement, BMS will pay Biokin Pharmaceutical an upfront payment of USD 800 million and up to USD 500 million in recent contingent payments. Biokin Pharmaceutical is eligible to receive up to USD 7.1 billion in additional payments upon achieving development, regulatory, and sales performance milestones, with a potential total consideration of up to USD 8.4 billion.
In January 2024, Biocytogen entered into an exclusive option and licensing agreement with Radiance. The agreement grants Radiance an option to license from Biocytogen a first-in-class fully human HER2/TROP2 bispecific ADC for development, manufacturing and commercialization worldwide.
In August 2024, Kelun Biotech announced that MSD will exercise the exclusive option on Kelun Biotech's bispecific ADC project SKB571 and will pay Kelun Pharmaceutical USD 37.5 million, with further milestone payments to be made upon achieving specific development and sales milestones.
In November 2024, Biocytogen announced that IDEAYA Biosciences has exercised its option to obtain the global exclusive license for Biocytogen's B7H3/PTK7-targeted bispecific ADC project IDE034. In accordance with the agreement, Biocytogen will receive upfront payment and option exercise fees, development and regulatory milestone payments, commercialization milestone payments and a share of net sales volume, with a total of USD 406.5 million.
In addition, in April 2024, Genmab acquired ProfoundBio for USD 1.8 billion, acquiring multiple drugs, including the EGFR/cMET-targeted bispecific ADC PRO1286. In September 2024, CSPC Pharma Group Co., Ltd and Alphamab Oncology also reached a licensing agreement totaling up to RMB 3.08 billion for the latter's HER2-targeted bispecific ADC JSKN003.
The frequent collaborations among enterprises indicate the promising market prospects of bispecific ADCs from the side. The overseas expansion of bispecific ADCs made in China demonstrates that the R&D capabilities of Chinese pharmaceutical companies are gradually being recognized by foreign enterprises, and their strength in the field of bispecific ADCs should not be underestimated.
ADC and bispecific antibodies are both popular areas in drug R&D and have gained tremendous success. Bispecific ADCs, obtained by ...
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