Shanghai-based DualityBio has entered a global collaboration and licensing agreement with Genentech to develop next-generation antibody-drug conjugates using its proprietary DUPAC payload platform.
The partnership is designed to develop ADCs with novel payload mechanisms that could address resistance to the payload classes used in currently approved ADC therapies.
Under the agreement, DualityBio will lead discovery and early global clinical development of the collaboration programmes.
Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, will receive exclusive worldwide licences to the resulting ADCs and assume responsibility for subsequent clinical development and global commercialisation following Phase Ia development.
DualityBio will receive an upfront payment of $45 million.
The Chinese biotechnology company is also eligible for more than $1 billion in aggregate development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments across the collaboration programmes, as well as tiered royalties on annual net sales of approved products.
DUPAC, or DualityBio Unique Payload Antibody Conjugate, is one of four proprietary ADC technology platforms developed by the company.
The platform comprises multiple payloads with novel mechanisms of action and is intended to generate ADC candidates that can address emerging resistance to established payload technologies.
Topoisomerase inhibitor-based ADCs have generated substantial clinical activity across several cancers and are increasingly moving into earlier treatment settings.
However, wider and earlier use is also creating a growing population of patients whose tumours may become refractory or resistant to these payload classes.
DualityBio said the DUPAC platform was developed to address this challenge and broaden the tumour biology accessible to individual ADC programmes.
The Genentech partnership builds on a series of international collaborations established by DualityBio.
Across partnerships including BioNTech, BeOne, GSK, Avenzo, Adcendo and Genentech, the company has now generated cumulative potential deal value exceeding $7 billion.
DualityBio is also advancing several proprietary ADC candidates clinically.
Its B7-H3 ADC elfetabart drozuntecan has entered global Phase III development, while a Biologics License Application for HER2-targeting trastuzumab pamirtecan has been accepted for review in China.
The Genentech agreement further extends the international commercialisation of Chinese-developed ADC technologies and reflects growing global interest in next-generation payload platforms capable of addressing resistance to first-generation ADC approaches.
