Alphamab Oncology and Pathos reach international licensing agreement for TROP2/HER3 bispecific ADC.

On August 4, Alphamab Oncology (“Alphamab”) announced a licensing agreement with Pathos AI (“Pathos”) for its proprietary, “First-in-Class” TROP2/HER3 bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), JSKN016. Under the agreement, Alphamab grants Pathos an exclusive license worldwide (excluding Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) to research, develop, manufacture, and commercialize JSKN016. Alphamab retains full proprietary rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize JSKN016 in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Under the terms of the agreement, Alphamab is entitled to a non-refundable upfront payment of US$125 million and milestone payments based on certain development and commercialization progress, totaling up to US$2.093 billion, as well as royalties at a high single-digit to low double-digit percentage of annual net sales in the licensed territories.

As part of this licensing agreement, Alphamab received a warrant from Pathos entitled to purchase preferred shares of Pathos for a total consideration of US$62.5 million (subject to adjustment under the overall terms of the transaction). Alphamab has full discretion to exercise the warrant. If the company chooses to exercise it, the relevant investment agreement and documents will be separately signed and disclosed.

JSKN016 is a TROP2/HER3-targeting bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) independently developed by Alphamab using a single-domain antibody, bispecific antibody, and glycosylation site-directed conjugation platform. This drug achieves a homogeneous structure of DAR4 through glycosylation site-directed conjugation, resulting in high stability and low off-target toxicity. Mechanistically, it precisely binds to tumor cell surface receptors, blocking oncogenic signaling pathways; simultaneously, it releases a topoisomerase I inhibitor at a specific site, efficiently killing tumor cells.

JSKN016 has demonstrated good antitumor activity and safety in various solid tumors in a phase I study. Currently, multiple Phase II clinical trials are underway for JSKN016 monotherapy and combination therapy for lung cancer and breast cancer, and a Phase III clinical trial for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is also ongoing.

Source: Alphamab Oncology | Top Image: Pixabay