LaNova Medicines announced that it has entered into an exclusive license agreement with Turning Point Therapeutics (NASDAQ: TPTX) to develop and commercialize LM-302, a novel antibody drug conjugate (ADC) targeting Claudin18.2, in the U.S. and rest of the world, excluding Greater China and South Korea.
Under the terms of the licensing agreement, LaNova will receive an upfront payment of $25 million and will be eligible to receive up to an additional $195 million in development and regulatory milestone payments; in addition, LaNova is eligible to receive commercial sales milestones, and tiered royalties ranging from mid-single digit to mid-teens percentages on net sales (subject to customary deductions).
As part of the agreement, both parties agreed to potentially broaden the partnership by collaborating on up to three additional ADC programs.
Claudin18.2 is a protein expressed in many gastrointestinal cancers, including gastric, gastroesophageal junction and pancreatic cancer. LM-302 is a potentially first-in-class anti-Claudin18.2 ADC discovered by LaNova that suppresses cell proliferation of gastric and pancreatic cell lines with nanomolar potency in preclinical models. It also has demonstrated efficacy in gastric and pancreatic cancer xenograft models. LM-302 is currently in Phase 1 clinical trials in both the U.S. and China.
"LaNova Medicines is focused on discovery and development of innovative medicines in oncology. We are very pleased to partner with Turning Point for LM-302, an innovative drug molecule with the potential as a novel treatment for gastric and pancreatic cancers. This partnership is an example of our discovery and development capabilities and our ambition for global innovation and patients," said Dr. Crystal Qin, Founder, Chairman and CEO of LaNova Medicines.
"We are excited to announce our first in-license as a company and strategically expand our clinical stage portfolio, specifically within GI tumors. Claudin18.2 is continuing to emerge as an important target," said Athena Countouriotis, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Turning Point. "We chose LM-302 based on it potentially being a first-in-class ADC to target Claudin18.2 and its preclinical data that show the potential to target tumors with low and high expression levels, which we believe could be an important differentiator versus other investigational therapies."
