Ideaya Bioscience has entered into an option and license agreement for a potential first-in-class bispecific ADC program with Beijing-based biotech Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals.
Biocytogen's B7H3/PTK7 topo-I-payload ADC program has the potential to be developed as a monotherapy agent in multiple solid tumor types and used in combination with programs in San Francisco-based Ideaya's pipeline targeting DNA damage repair (DDR) therapies, including PARG inhibitor IDE161.
Under the terms of the deal, Biocytogen will receive an upfront fee and upon Ideaya's potential exercise of the option, an exercise fee totaling up to $6.5 million. Biocytogen will be eligible to receive total potential milestone payments of $400 million, including development and regulatory milestone payments of up to $100 million.
Earlier this month, Biocytogen licensed multiple bispecific antibodies generated with the company's proprietary RenLite platform to Czech biotech Sotio, with Sotio aiming to broaden its next-gen ADC portfolio.
With both the bispecific antibody and the ADC sectors maturing, bispecific ADCs are positioned as a next-gen ADC approach. The modality has the potential to eliminate some of the clinical challenges associated with ADCs, such as off-target toxicity and drug resistance.