Preclinical tests of the bispecific antibody–drug conjugate (ADC) candidate "ABL209," under development by ABL Bio, showed it simultaneously delivers anticancer efficacy and safety.
The company said on the 21st that a paper with these findings was published on the 20th (local time) in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, an international journal on cancer treatment issued by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
ABL209 is a next-generation ADC candidate that attaches a topoisomerase I inhibitor (TOP1i), an anticancer drug, to a bispecific antibody simultaneously targeting EGFR and MUC1, proteins frequently found in cancer cells. NEOKBio, ABL Bio's U.S. subsidiary, is leading a phase 1 clinical trial in the United States.
Existing therapies that target EGFR or MUC1 individually have been flagged for limits in efficacy and safety. For EGFR-targeted therapies, skin toxicity is a hallmark side effect, while MUC1 expression varies by cancer type and some antigens may shed, potentially reducing therapeutic effect.
According to the study, ABL209 binds cancer cells better than single-target ADCs and shows improved efficiency in delivering the drug into cells. No skin-related toxicity was observed in in vitro tests.
In animal studies using patient-derived xenografts, it showed anticancer activity across various tumor types, including lung, esophageal, pancreatic, colorectal, bladder, and head and neck cancers. In monkey studies, a 10 mg/kg dose showed stable pharmacokinetics (PK) with a half-life of 5.2 days, and it demonstrated tolerability up to 40 mg/kg.
Chief Executive Officer Lee Sang-hoon of ABL Bio said, "Our goal is to present early clinical data for ABL209 in 2027," adding, "We expect ABL209 to establish itself as a new treatment option in the ADC field."