Record-Breaking $2.1B Licensing Deal for Dual-Target CAR-T Therapy KQ-2003 Targeting BCMA/CD19 to Overcome Antigen Escape

On July 22, 2025, Novatim reached a strategic collaboration with U.S.-based ERIGEN, granting the latter exclusive rights to develop, register, and commercialize its globally pioneering dual-target CAR-T product KQ-2003 (targeting BCMA/CD19) outside Greater China (excluding India, Turkey, and Russia). The agreement also permits ERIGEN to utilize KQ-2003's core patents to develop an off-the-shelf CAR-T therapy, while Novatim retains full rights to this derivative in Greater China. Under the terms, Novatim will receive an upfront payment of $15 million and is eligible for up to $1.32 billion in milestone payments and $800 million in sales royalties, with a total potential value exceeding $2.1 billion.

(Source: Novatim Official Website)

The authorized product KQ-2003 is developed based on the innovative dual-target CAR-T technology platform. The dual-target CAR-T technology genetically engineers T cells to simultaneously target two tumor-associated antigens, enhancing tumor recognition accuracy and killing efficiency. Its core value lies in overcoming two major bottlenecks of single-target therapies:①Risk of Antigen Escape: Tumor cells struggle to downregulate the expression of two antigens simultaneously, significantly enhancing treatment durability;②Insufficient Target Precision: Dual-target synergistic enhancement for malignant cell recognition, reducing collateral damage to normal tissues.

Dual-Target CAR-T Treatment Strategy (Source: Cancers (Basel))

(Si-CAR-T: Single-target CAR-T Bi-CAR-T: Dual-target CAR-T)

✅Significantly Reduce the Risk of Antigen Escape:Tumor cells find it difficult to downregulate two antigens simultaneously; the dual-target design forms a "double insurance."

✅Expand Patient Coverage:Can cover tumor subpopulations with different antigen expression patterns (e.g., CD19⁺CD22⁻, CD19⁻CD22⁺, double-positive), especially suitable for patients with high tumor heterogeneity.

✅Enhancing the Treatment Potential of Solid Tumors:Solid tumors often experience single-target failure due to target heterogeneity. A dual-target design (such as GD2/B7-H3) has demonstrated enhanced tumor clearance ability in neuroblastoma models and prevents escape under low antigen density.

Clinical data show that about 30% of patients relapse due to antigen escape after single-target BCMA CAR-T treatment. Novatim's KQ-2003 achieved a 100% objective response rate (ORR) in early studies, demonstrating the breakthrough potential of its dual-target design for drug-resistant patients.

Currently, common target combinations for dual-target/multi-target CAR-T therapies include: CD19/CD22, CD19/CD20, and CD19/BCMA, among others.

ACROBiosystems, as a protein supplier focused on the pharmaceutical R&D field, has developed a series of products using professional protein R&D platforms, protein labeling platforms, stable cell line development platforms, and flow cytometry analysis platforms, includingNon-labeled, Biotin-labeled, Fluorescent-labeledMultiple forms of CAR-T target proteins are suitable for various scenarios such as animal immunization, scFv screening, CAR-T functional testing, and clinical PK studies, to support the development of dual-target/multi-target CAR-T and accelerate the CAR-T research and development process. The products are currently...CoverageCD19、BCMA、CD22、MSLNAndEGFRIncluding the near50IndividualCAR-TPopular Targets。

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> Applicable after flow verificationAnti-CD19 CARPositive Expression Rate Detection

5e5 of anti-CD19 CAR-293 cells were stained with 100 μL of 1:50 dilution (2 μL stock solution in 100 μL FACS buffer) of PE-Labeled Human CD19 (20-291), His Tag (Cat. No. CD9-HP2H5) and negative control protein respectively (Fig. C and B), and non-transfected 293 cells were used as a control (Fig. A). PE signal was used to evaluate the binding activity (QC tested).

> High Affinity ClassicSPRVerification

Biotinylated Human CD19 (20-291), His,Avitag (Cat. No. CD9-H82E9) captured on Biotin CAP - Series S sensor Chip can bind FMC63 MAb (mouse lgG2a) with an affinity constant of 0.255 nM as determined in a SPR assay (Biacore 8K) (QC tested).

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CAR-TPopular Target Proteins

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References

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2. Wang S, Li X, Ning H, Wu Y. Dual-target CAR-T cell therapy: A new strategy to improve the therapeutic effect of hematological malignancies. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 2025 Jul 1;214:104824.

3. Ma Q, Wei R, Wang Q, Jiang S, Wu Y, Min C, Guo S, Zhang Y, Sun X, Wu H, Sun X, Xiang F, Xiao M, Cheng Z. A bi-specific CAR-T cell therapy targeting CD19 and CD22 in relapsed or refractory B-ALL. Clin Exp Med. 2025 Jul 28;25(1):264. 

4. Shah NN, Johnson BD, Schneider D, Zhu F, Szabo A, Keever-Taylor CA, Krueger W, Worden AA, Kadan MJ, Yim S, Cunningham A, Hamadani M, Fenske TS, Dropulić B, Orentas R, Hari P. Bispecific anti-CD20, anti-CD19 CAR T cells for relapsed B cell malignancies: a phase 1 dose escalation and expansion trial. Nat Med. 2020 Oct;26(10):1569-1575. 

5. Imai K, Takeuchi Y, Terakura S, Okuno S, Adachi Y, Osaki M, Umemura K, Hanajiri R, Shimada K, Murata M, Kiyoi H. Dual CAR-T Cells Targeting CD19 and CD37 Are Effective in Target Antigen Loss B-cell Tumor Models. Mol Cancer Ther. 2024 Mar 4;23(3):381-393. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-23-0408. PMID: 37828726.

6. Yao H, Ren SH, Wang LH, Ren MQ, Cai J, Chen D, He Y, Lai SH, Dou BT, Li MJ, Li YL, Cen YL, Chang AH, Su Y, Qiu L, Fan FY. BCMA/GPRC5D bispecific CAR T-cell therapy for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma with extramedullary disease: a single-center, single-arm, phase 1 trial. J Hematol Oncol. 2025 May 19;18(1):56. doi: 10.1186/s13045-025-01713-2. Erratum in: J Hematol Oncol. 2025 Jun 3;18(1):60.

7. Shi M, Wang J, Huang H, Liu D, Cheng H, Wang X, Chen W, Yan Z, Sang W, Qi K, Li D, Zhu F, Li Z, Qiao J, Wu Q, Zeng L, Fei X, Gu W, Miao Y, Xu K, Zheng J, Cao J. Bispecific CAR T cell therapy targeting BCMA and CD19 in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma: a phase I/II trial. Nat Commun. 2024 Apr 20;15(1):3371.