BioNTech SE’s deal to license two antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) from Duality Biologics further expands the German biotech’s pipeline, which has grown rapidly thanks to its cash windfall from sales of its messenger RNA COVID-19 vaccines. It also illustrates the continuing appeal of ADCs in oncology, especially after partner Pfizer Inc.’s recent megadeal to acquire Seagen Inc. , as a dozen of the drugs have hit the US market since 2017.
The two companies said on 3 April that DualityBio, based in China, had granted BioNTech an exclusive license for two investigational ADCs: DB-1303, a HER2-targeting topoisomerase-1 inhibitor-based ADC that is in Phase II development and has fast-track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration; and DB-1311, also a topoisomerase-1 inhibitor-based ADC, which DualityBio lists as being in preclinical development