Low-Profile Chinese ADC Biotech Puzhong Discovery Secures Over $1 Billion BD Deal and Files IPO Prospectus

The ADC BD craze continues, with a previously unknown Chinese ADC company entering the spotlight in the latest deal.

On August 20, Puzhong Discovery Pharmaceutical Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and Adcendo ApS jointly announced that they had reached a licensing agreement for ADCE-T02 (Puzhong Discovery's research and development code: AMT-754). Adcendo will obtain exclusive global development and commercialization rights outside of Greater China, while Puzhong Discovery will retain the development and commercialization rights in the Greater China region (including mainland China, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan region).

According to the terms of the agreement, Puzhong Discovery will receive an upfront payment worth tens of millions of dollars. Upon achieving subsequent development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, the company will be entitled to total milestone payments exceeding 1 billion US dollars, as well as royalties in the single-digit to low double-digit percentage range based on global net sales (excluding Greater China).

The author noticed that Puzhong Discovery Pharmaceutical Technology(Shanghai) Co., Ltd. had rarely spoken publicly before, maintaining a low-key and mysterious stance in the industry trend for a long time. As this BD deal of over 1 billion US dollars sparked heated discussions in the industry, what are the outstanding features of this rising ADC company?

From Agriculture to Pharmaceuticals: A Bold Leap Forward

Public information shows that in April 2019, Puzhong Discovery Pharmaceutical Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was established in Shanghai. On the official website, there is little information about the background of the company's establishment and the founding team, with only the statement, "The company's founder has continuously successful entrepreneurial experience."

Tianyancha shows that the founders of Puzhong Discovery include Chen Changzheng and Meng Sun. Among them, Meng Sun, as a serial entrepreneur, has experience in multiple successful startups. Epitome Biosystems, which he founded in Boston, USA, in 2002, was successfully acquired by Millipore, and BioShip Biotech, which he founded in Shanghai in 2005, has been acquired by Guilin Sanjin.

Source of the image: Qichacha

Moreover, the past resumes of Chen Changzheng and Meng Xun show that they have already been old entrepreneurial partners. In 2007, Chen Changzheng partnered with Meng Xun to co-found Abmart (Aibimat) in Shanghai, a company specializing in custom antibody and antibody-related services, with research areas including plant science, aquatic science, and animal husbandry.

The establishment of Puzhong Discovery was also initiated by this company, with the aim of applying Abmart's多年积累的“抗体技术生态系统” to the pharmaceutical field. As mentioned in Abmart's official website regarding its development history, in 2019, the company further expanded its business and established an early drug research and development company, Puzhong Discovery Pharmaceutical Technology(Shanghai) Co., Ltd., to provide antibody library development services for pharmaceutical companies.

Image Source: Abmart Official Website

From Abmart's introduction to Puzhong Discovery, it is not difficult to see that Puzhong Discovery was not initially positioned as a Biotech company engaged in ADC innovative drug research and development. More accurately, this is a CRO company.

Puzhong Discovery's co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Tang Yanfang, mentioned in an interview earlier this year about the company’s development history. In its early days, the industry was rushing after PD-1/PD-(L)1, while Puzhong Discovery adopted an innovative target screening technology platform to "find targets," which was still considered an emerging model. As a result, there were many observers, but very few companies truly willing to invest.

As the saying goes, "Heroes are made by the times." Puzhong Discovery Pharmaceutical Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. has continuously advanced drug development from target discovery, leveraging this to validate the feasibility of its technology in the market. On the other hand, at that time, ADC drugs had achieved several breakthroughs in the field of solid tumors, and Puzhong Discovery chose this niche track to move forward, ultimately achieving today's success.

The capital continues to be optimistic.

Public information shows that, as of now, Puzhong Discovery has completed four rounds of financing, none of which disclosed the amount. The specific timeline is as follows:

In May 2020, completed Series A financing, with investors including: Shenzhen Pengrui Group, Share Investment, Zhonghe Venture Capital, Chuangyuan InnoSpring, Langsheng Investment, Daoyuan Capital, Dongping Capital, Cowin Venture Capital, Yicun Capital, and Northern Light Venture Capital;

In January 2021, completed the Pre-B round of financing, with participation from Merck Investment and Cowin Venture Capital;

In September 2021, completed Series B financing, with participation from Zhenxin Capital, Jianyi Capital, Haiwang Intellectual Property Fund, and Langsheng Investment.

In January 2023, completed Series C financing, with Kaitai Venture Capital continuing to follow up.

It was found that the four financings discovered by Puzhong Discovery Pharmaceutical Technology(Shanghai) Co., Ltd. involved a diverse group of investors, including professional venture capital institutions and leading industry capital from major enterprises. The first round of financing alone attracted ten investment firms, with participants including Northern Light Venture Capital, Fenxiang Investment, Zhonghe Venture Capital, Langsheng Investment, Shenzhen Pengrui Group, and other investors who were also backers of Abmart, the technical parent company of Puzhong Discovery.

In addition, the author also found that in these four rounds of financing, some investors participated in multiple rounds, including Langxiang Investment and Cowind Venture Capital. Among them, Cowind Venture Capital's cumulative investment in Puzhong Discovery reached three rounds, almost participating throughout the entire process. Langxiang Investment is an investment institution in China that focuses on the healthcare sector, with over 40 accumulated investment management cases. Previously invested companies such as Haichuang Pharmaceuticals and Yiming Angke have successfully gone public. Cowind Venture Capital focuses on investments in the medical health and IT hard technology fields, and its previously invested company, 3D Medicines, has successfully gone public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Dual-platform Driven Product Development

Puzhong Discovery Pharmaceutical Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. disclosed that the company is able to develop industry-leading ADC products, with its competitive advantage based on the dual-driving technologies of MabArray (target discovery platform) and T1000 (ADC).

Specifically, T1000 technology is a novel Linker-Payload technology for developing ADCs. This linker can overcome the difficulty of Exatecan's strong hydrophobicity, which prevents direct antibody conjugation, and endows the ADC with enhanced bystander effect and tumor infiltration capability.

This time, Puzhong Discovery Pharmaceutical Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. found that ADCE-T02 in the BD deal is a novel, highly differentiated TF-targeting ADC, with a unique antibody design that mitigates its impact on the coagulation pathway. The product was developed using the T1000-exatecan linker-payload technology platform. It has been reported that this product has already applied for clinical trials in Australia and is expected to file an IND application in the United States soon.

Currently, Puzhong Discovery has developed multiple ADC pipelines with market competitiveness based on this platform, and is actively promoting pipeline collaborations to realize asset value.

In June 2022, Puzhong Discovery Pharmaceutical Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and ADCendo ApS reached a collaboration on the CDH6 ADC drug CUSP06, granting ADCendo ApS exclusive global development and commercialization rights for CUSP06 outside of Greater China.

CUSP06 is also developed based on the T1000-exatecan linker-payload technology platform and represents a highly differentiated ADC drug targeting CDH6. Currently, other leading global CDH6 ADC products include DS-6000a, co-developed by Daiichi Sankyo and Merck, while Novartis, the earliest developer of this type of product, terminated their project during Phase I due to toxicity issues.

CUSP06 Received FDA Approval for Clinical Trials in the U.S. in Q3 2023 and is Now Initiating Phase I Clinical Trials in the United States. Following the advancement of the project into clinical stages, ADCendo successfully secured $100 million in Series A financing earlier this year. The proceeds will primarily be used to advance the clinical development of the company’s CUSP06 program, as well as to support the expansion of its product pipeline and team.

Moreover, in June this year, the BD deal pipeline worth over $1.2 billion between Day One and MabCure Biotech also featured Puzhong Discovery Pharmaceutical Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. The collaboration pipeline, named MTX-13, is a novel ADC targeting Protein Tyrosine Kinase 7 (PTK7). This product has already received FDA IND approval. It is reported that this product was co-developed by MabCure Biotech and Puzhong Discovery.

In addition to these重磅 ADC drugs that have achieved authorization through external cooperation, Puzhong Discovery Pharmaceutical Technology(Shanghai) Co., Ltd. has several other promising ADC pipelines:

AMT-151

AMT-151 is an ADC product targeting FRα, jointly developed by Puzhong Discovery Pharmaceutical Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and Linking Bio. Currently, the product has been approved for clinical trials in China and Australia. Globally, only one FRα ADC—Elahere—has been approved for marketing, developed by ImmunoGen. At the end of 2023, AbbVie acquired ImmunoGen for $10.1 billion, gaining Elahere in the process. This year, Genmab acquired Proforma Biologics, a rising star in China’s ADC field, for $1.8 billion, whose core product Rina-S is also an FRα ADC.

AMT-253

AMT-253 is an ADC targeting MUC18. This product has been approved for clinical trials in China and Australia for the treatment of solid tumors. In preclinical studies, AMT-253 demonstrated positive tumor-inhibiting effects in various CDX or PDX models, including melanoma, cervical squamous cell carcinoma, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, lung squamous cell carcinoma, small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, and liver cancer.

AMT-562

AMT-562 is an ADC targeting HER3. In February this year, the product was approved for clinical trials in China for the proposed development of treating advanced solid tumors. Meanwhile, a non-randomized, open-label, multi-center Phase 1 clinical study for advanced solid tumors is currently underway in Australia.

In addition, the ADC pipeline developed by Puzhong Discovery Pharmaceutical Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. also includes the following targets: HER2, TROP2, CD44v9, DLL-3, etc., and bispecific ADCs are also under development.

Conclusion

The smooth progress of multiple pipelines, as well as the output of significant BD collaborations and financing deals, has repeatedly validated the advantageous position of Puzhong Discovery's technology platform from various angles. Meanwhile, the continuous impact of related news stories has slowly brought this "low-profile" ADC company, ADCendo ApS, into the spotlight.

What will be the development path of this promising company in the future? Only time will tell.

References: Puzhong Discovery Pharmaceutical Technology(Shanghai) Co., Ltd. official website, Abmart official website, Qichacha, and other public materials.

Editorial Responsibility: Liuli

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