Roche to advance potentially best-in-class antibody drug conjugate

Roche and Innovent Biologics, Inc. have agreed to collaborate to advance development of an innovative DLL3-targeted antibody drug conjugate (ADC) candidate.

Innovent shared that this collaboration focuses on advancing treatment options in advanced small cell lung cancer.

Innovent will receive an upfront payment of $80 million. The biopharmaceutical company is eligible for up to $1 billion in milestone payments and certain royalties on net sales.

Under the agreement, Roche gains the rights to develop, manufacture and commercialise the ADC IBI3009.

The two parties will have joint ownership of early development. Following this, Roche will advance full development of the ADC candidate, Innovent explained.

Advancing biologics for oncology

IBI3009’s target is an antigen that is significantly overexpressed in certain cancers, such as small-cell lung cancer and other neuroendocrine tumours, according to Innovent.

The ADC offers “encouraging anti-tumour activity in multiple tumour-bearing mouse models, particularly in chemo-resistant tumour types, and has demonstrated a favourable safety profile”, the company continued.

This candidate was developed leveraging Innovent’s proprietary novel topoisomerase 1 inhibitor (TOPO1i) platform. A patient in the Phase I study received the first dose of the biologic treatment last month.

Developing the antibody drug conjugate through a continued partnership

“We are delighted to once again enter a strategic collaboration with Roche… [which combines] Roche’s scientific expertise and global development capabilities with our innovative approach,” Dr Samuel Zhang, Chief Business Officer of Innovent responded.

“We are excited to enter this partnership with the Innovent team to further develop this promising investigational treatment for patients with small cell lung cancer. This partnership builds on Roche’s long history of innovation in the area of ADCs, to address the unmet needs of patients with solid tumours with transformational medicines,” commented Boris Zaïtra, Head of Corporate Business Development at Roche.