Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have assumed new prominence as cancer treatments in the wake of a deal between AstraZeneca Plc and Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd of Japan to co-develop trastuzumab deruxtecan, an ADC for a group of HER2-mutated cancers.
AstraZeneca is to pay the Japanese company $1.35 billion initially for rights to the late-stage ADC candidate which received a ‘breakthrough therapy’ designation from the US Food and Drug Administration in 2017. The two companies expect to make a regulatory submission in the second half of this year.