Ipsen makes its second cautious conjugate move

Three months after licensing Sutro’s STRO-003 worldwide, Ipsen has bought rights to another preclinical antibody-drug conjugate – FS001, originated by the private Chinese group Foreseen Biotechnology. The companies are trying to keep FS001’s mechanism secret, but an IP search reveals that Foreseen has filed patents covering ADCs that target ITGA2 and GPC3, suggesting that FS001 hits one of these antigens. Ipsen’s statement says FS001’s target was identified using Foreseen’s high-throughput, proteomics screening platforms, and if this has yielded a truly novel protein then ITGA2 fits the bill: OncologyPipeline reveals no other companies working specifically on ITGA2, whereas GPC3 is by now a well-known target in liver cancer. FS001 is said to use a stable and cleavable linker and topoisomerase 1 inhibitor payload, and is the result of a November 2023 deal between Foreseen and Shijian Bio covering the latter’s “Ezwi-Fit” linker-payload technology. Like with Ipsen’s deal for STRO-003, an anti-ROR1 ADC, it’s not being disclosed how much Ipsen has paid Foreseen up front. Overexpression of ITGA2, also known as CD49b or integrin α2, is thought to promote tumour growth by upregulating PD-L1 expression through the Stat3 signalling pathway.

Industry work on integrin α2 (ITGA2 or CD49b)

Note: *Ipsen would not confirm the target of FS001 when asked by ApexOnco. Source: OncologyPipeline.