Pyramid Biosciences’ current pipeline is built around the kinase TRK. But the biotech has now struck a deal that will take it down a new path, paying $20 million upfront and betting $1 billion in biobucks for the ex-greater China rights to a would-be challenger to Gilead’s antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) Trodelvy.
New Jersey-based Pyramid is giving GeneQuantum Healthcare the money in return for a TROP2-directed ADC, GQ1010. The drug candidate “has shown a highly differentiated preclinical profile,” Pyramid said, and is on course to enter the clinic in the next year. GeneQuantum used a novel site-specific conjugation technology and linker-payload in GQ1010 to increase its stability, safety and potency.
Based on the preclinical data, Pyramid thinks GQ1010 may have a broader therapeutic margin than more advanced TROP2 ADCs and therefore may also possess a superior efficacy and safety profile. The ADC will need differentiating characteristics if it is to make a mark on the TROP2 space.
Gilead paid $21 billion to buy Immunomedics for the first-in-class, TROP2-directed ADC Trodelvy in 2020. Sales of the drug increased (PDF) 79% last year, climbing to $680 million, as Gilead made inroads into the U.S. and European breast cancer markets. AstraZeneca, which paid Daiichi Sankyo to co-develop a TROP2 ADC in 2020, is threatening to curb Gilead’s progress with a rival therapy that is in phase 3 development.
The presence of commercial products and advanced clinical candidates, in the hands of deep-pocketed drugmakers, has failed to dissuade Pyramid from trying to make its mark on the TROP2 market. Pyramid sees a range of opportunities for the ADC across breast, lung, pancreatic, ovarian and prostate cancers.
Bolting GQ1010 onto the pipeline moves Pyramid outside of its traditional area of focus. Prior to the ADC deal, the biotech constructed a pipeline around its knowledge of TRK, taking its pan-TRK kinase inhibitor PBI-200 into the clinic in solid tumors and joining the small club of companies to explore the potential of the target in dermatological conditions such as psoriasis.