Antibody Drug Conjugates Market Update: Ambrx and NovoCodex Collaborate

Ambrx and NovoCodex Biopharmaceuticals announced that they have formed a second collaboration to develop and commercialize Ambrx’s internally developed site-specific antibody drug conjugates (ADCs).

What is the focus of the agreement:

Under the agreement, Ambrx and NovoCodex will join forces to continue the development of ARX305, an Ambrx enabled ADC for the treatment of CD70 positive cancers.

What are the key terms of the agreement:

NovoCodex is responsible for developing and commercializing ARX305 in China while Ambrx is responsible for developing and commercializing ARX305 outside of China. NovoCodex will fund global development activities to the end of Phase 1 clinical trials.

What are the financial terms of the agreement: 

Ambrx is likely to receive an undisclosed upfront payment, development milestones, and a double-digit royalty on product sales in China. NovoCodex is also eligible to share an undisclosed portion of ARX305 product sales outside of China.

Check the details of the agreement here.

What is the ADC pipeline landscape like: 

Currently, more than 240 ADCs are being developed across various clinical/preclinical stages.

With such a strong development pipeline, the overall ADC therapeutics market is projected to be worth $15 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of over 20%. This fast-growing market offers immense opportunities for contract manufacturers, service providers, and technology developers.

What innovation has happened in ADC technologies: The ADC technology landscape has evolved significantly in the last few years. There is a prominent rise in technologies that carry out site-specific conjugation.

If we look at the clinical pipeline of ADC Therapeutics, the majority of the drugs are currently being developed using the technologies provided by Seattle Genetics and Immunogen. In the preclinical pipeline, we can see several new technology providers that have emerged. Especially, players, such as Heidelberg Pharma have emerged to be the most prominent player with an early pipeline comprising of 11 drug candidates. It is followed by LegoChem Biosciences and Concortis Biotherapeutics with 9 and 8 drugs, respectively. LegoChem Biosciences was a runner up at the 6th World ADC Awards.