AnHeart Therapeutics Expands Oncology Pipeline with Licensing of Two Clinical-Stage Targeted Therapies from Daiichi Sankyo

Reposted from | Jike Yaowen

On September 7, Ascentage Pharma (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. (“Ascentage Pharma”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to addressing unmet clinical needs in oncology for the global market, signed a license agreement with Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited (“Daiichi Sankyo”) through its subsidiary, AnHuiTe Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., to in-license two clinical-stage innovative oncology drug candidates. The Daiichi Sankyo codes for these two innovative drugs are DS-1001 and DS-1205, respectively, while Ascentage Pharma’s codes are AB-218 and AB-329, respectively. Under the license agreement, Daiichi Sankyo is eligible to receive upfront payments, development, regulatory, and commercialization milestone payments, as well as royalties on net sales of the products post-launch.

This August, Abogen Biosciences announced that it had secured a $20 million Series A+ financing round. The funds will be used to advance the global Phase II clinical trials of taletrectinib and further expand its oncology R&D pipeline. Taletrectinib is a highly potent and selective next-generation ROS1/NTRK inhibitor. Following this transaction and collaboration, Abogen Biosciences has expanded its oncology investigational pipeline to include three innovative molecules.

AB-218 is a novel, potent, and highly selective inhibitor capable of efficiently penetrating the blood-brain barrier to target IDH1 mutants. It demonstrated encouraging efficacy and safety in a Phase 1 clinical trial involving patients with glioma. Baoyuan Pharma will develop AB-218 for the indication of glioma, as well as other potential indications including acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and cholangiocarcinoma, in global markets excluding Japan. Daiichi Sankyo will retain exclusive rights to AB-218 in the Japanese market.

AB-329 is a novel, potent, and highly selective AXL inhibitor. Ascentage Pharma holds global rights to AB-329 and will develop it globally in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors or third-generation EGFR inhibitors for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and other indications, including solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.

Dr. Junyuan Wang, CEO of Bio-Thera Solutions, stated, “We are highly satisfied with our efficient collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo. The introduction of the two new clinical-stage assets (AB-218 and AB-329) represents an expansion of our partnership with Daiichi Sankyo on taletrectinib. These two assets possess differentiated competitive advantages in the global market and each has multiple potential indications. The acquisition of these two new assets demonstrates Bio-Thera Solutions’ latest progress in its strategic goal of building a portfolio of targeted oncology therapies to address unmet clinical needs for patients worldwide.”

References:

[1] AnHeart Licenses Two Clinical Stage Oncology Candidates from Daiichi Sankyo. Retrieved 2020-09-08, from http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/09/08/2089673/0/en/AnHeart-Licenses-Two-Clinical-Stage-Oncology-Candidates-from-Daiichi-Sankyo.html

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