Representational image: Magnific
Chinese biopharmaceutical company DualityBio has entered into a collaboration and license agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, to develop next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) using the company’s proprietary DualityBio Unique Payload Antibody Conjugate (DUPAC) platform.
Under the agreement, DualityBio will generate and develop ADCs against Genentech-defined oncology targets, using payloads from its DUPAC platform. DualityBio will lead discovery and early global clinical development of the collaboration programmes, while Genentech will receive exclusive worldwide rights to the resulting ADCs and assume sole responsibility for further clinical development and commercialisation following Phase 1a.
DualityBio will receive an upfront payment of USD45 million and is eligible for more than USD1 billion in aggregate development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments across all programmes, in addition to tiered royalties on annual net sales of approved products.
The collaboration comes as topoisomerase inhibitor-based ADCs move into earlier lines of therapy across major solid tumour indications, potentially increasing the number of patients who progress following treatment with this class of therapies.
DualityBio said its DUPAC platform is designed to maintain antitumour activity in patients who have progressed on topoisomerase inhibitor-based ADCs, as well as in tumours that are less responsive to this payload class.
“By combining DualityBio’s payload innovation and early-stage global clinical development capabilities with Genentech’s deep oncology expertise and worldwide development reach, we can advance these programmes with greater speed and scale and bring differentiated medicines to more patients around the world,” said Dr. John Zhu, Founder and CEO of DualityBio.
Boris L. Zaïtra, head of Roche Corporate Business Development, said, “By further enhancing targeted medicines like ADCs, we focus our innovation where the need is highest. Backed by Roche’s decades-long legacy in oncology, collaborating with partners such as DualityBio enables us to identify novel treatment options, such that we can tackle patients’ unmet needs in cancer care.”
DUPAC is one of DualityBio’s four proprietary ADC platforms and focuses on payloads with novel mechanisms of action. The platform comprises multiple distinct payloads, each built on a unique antitumour mechanism, together with optimised linker technologies designed to provide systemic stability and tumour-specific release.
DualityBio said the payloads are engineered around several criteria, including high potency, broad-spectrum activity across tumour types, a short systemic half-life to enable rapid clearance, and a bystander effect designed to address heterogeneous solid tumours.
