BioNTech and Duality Biologics have announced an agreement to co-develop and commercialise two antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for solid tumours.
Under the terms of the agreement, DualityBio will receive upfront payments totaling $170m and will be eligible to receive development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments of potentially more than $1.5bn.
ADCs are a class of potent cancer therapies combining the selectivity of antibodies with the potent cell-killing properties of chemotherapy or other anti-cancer agents.
Unlike chemotherapy, which works by attacking lots of different cells as well as the cancer, ADCs are designed to target and kill tumour cells while sparing healthy cells.
As part of the collaboration, BioNTech will gain access to DualityBio’s lead candidate, DB-1303, which targets HER2-expressing solid tumours. DB-1303 has already received Fast Track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration and is currently in a phase 2 clinical trial.
The second ADC candidate, DB-1311, is yet to enter human studies but has demonstrated ‘potent antitumour activity in a range of tumour models representing multiple cancer types and has been well tolerated in preclinical studies’, the companies said.
Professor Ugur Sahin, chief executive officer and co-founder of BioNTech, said: “Over the last years, the ADC field has made significant progress, overcoming several limitations and demonstrating its potential as a broadly applicable precision medicine drug class that might be an alternative to standard chemotherapy.
“The addition of these two ADCs to our portfolio strengthens our pipeline of immunotherapies and expands our capabilities with the aim to provide therapeutic benefits for patients with a range of solid tumours, along the entire patient journey.”
BioNTech will hold commercial rights for both assets globally, while DualityBio will retain commercial rights for Mainland China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macau Special Administrative Region. DualityBio also has the right to co-commercialise DB-1311 in the US.
John Zhu, founder and chief executive officer of DualityBio, said: “This is a recognition of not only DualityBio’s next-generation ADC platform, but also its internal discovery and development capabilities. With this strategic partnership, we are committed to working together to advance the development of innovative therapies for the benefit of patients worldwide.”