Innovent Licenses Lung Cancer Therapy Candidate to Roche
Chinese biopharmaceutical company Innovent Biologics announced a collaboration and exclusive license agreement with Roche to advance the development of IBI3009, a novel DLL3-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidate.
Under the agreement, Innovent has granted Roche exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize IBI3009. The two parties said that they will jointly focus on the early-stage development of this ADC candidate, after which Roche will take over full development. Innovent will receive an upfront payment of $80 million and is eligible to receive up to $1 billion in development and commercial milestone payments, along with tiered royalties on net sales.
IBI3009 targets DLL3, an antigen with low expression in normal tissues but significantly overexpressed in certain cancers, particularly small-cell lung cancer and other neuroendocrine tumors. Developed leveraging Innovent’s proprietary novel topoisomerase 1 inhibitor (TOPO1i) platform, IBI3009 is considered to be one of the leading and potentially best-in-class DLL3-targeting ADCs.
IBI3009 has already obtained investigational new drug application (IND) approvals in Australia, China, and the US, with the first patient for the Phase 1 study dosed in December 2024. This collaboration aims to bring innovative treatment options to patients with advanced small-cell lung cancer.
