Ipsen buys into ROR1 after Boehringer’s exit

After some pipeline setbacks Sutro has had a minor success with one of its remaining early-stage assets; STRO-003, an ADC targeting the ROR1 antigen, was today licensed worldwide to Ipsen. Though STRO-003, which features a topoisomerase 1 inhibitor payload and cleavable linker, is said to be in the “final stages” of preclinical development there’s no indication when it might enter human trials. Its early status likely explains the deal’s modest terms: near-term payments amount to $90m, but the up-front fee hasn’t been disclosed, and Sutro has issued Ipsen with equity for part of the total. ROR1 has been in focus since Merck & Co paid $2.8bn for VelosBio in 2020, and its subject, zilovertamab vedotin, is the industry’s most advanced ROR1-targeting ADC. However, Boehringer Ingelheim’s $1.5bn purchase of NBE-Therapeutics has fared less well, with the quiet termination of BI 3702025 last September. Meanwhile, quiet discontinuations in Sutro’s own pipeline include the BioNova-partnered anti-CD74 ADC bezetabart debotansine, slipped out in last month’s SEC filing, and a bispecific ADC against Muc1 and EGFR, M1231, which had been licensed to Merck KGaA.

Anti-ROR1 antibody-drug conjugates

Note: this table has been updated to state that ADP-c389 took over from ADP-c165 as Almac's lead molecule with this mechanism. Source: OncologyPipeline.