Daiichi ups its Glycotope bet

Daiichi Sankyo had already been developing an ADC using an antibody licensed from Glycotope, and now the Japanese company has acquired outright rights to the antibody in question, gatipotuzumab. The deal, worth $133m, gets Daiichi off the hook for all potential milestones and royalties for products that include gatipotuzumab. Perhaps Daiichi has plans for gatipotuzumab beyond DS-3939, the tumour-associated MUC1-targeting ADC it’s been developing under the 2018 deal between the companies; that asset is currently in a global phase 1/2 solid tumour trial. Hitting TA-MUC1, instead of just MUC1, is said to allow more precise targeting to cancer cells. While there are a couple of anti-MUC1 ADCs in the clinic (including Biocytogen’s DM002, which also hits HER3), there are no other active TA-MUC1-targeting projects in development, according to OncologyPipeline. Glycotope had been testing gatipotuzumab alone, but things have gone quiet since results from the solid tumour Gatto trial; the group had previously highlighted other preclinical assets, including a T-cell engager and Car-T, that have since fallen by the wayside. Maybe Daiichi has similar plans, or perhaps it’s just taken a chance to free itself from any future payments around DS-3939.

Daiichi’s clinical-stage ADC pipeline

Source: OncologyPipeline.