Sutro Biopharma and Ipsen Announce $900 Million Licensing Deal for STRO-003 ADC

On April 1, 2024, Sutro Biopharma, a NASDAQ-listed American company, and the renowned French pharmaceutical company Ipsen, entered into a global exclusive licensing agreement. The agreement covers Sutro's investigational ADC (Antibody-Drug Conjugate) candidate, STRO-003. Under the terms of the deal, Ipsen will make an upfront payment of $90 million to Sutro and potentially pay up to $900 million in milestone payments. This is Ipsen's first major investment in the ADC field.

STRO-003 is a next-generation ADC targeting ROR1 (Receptor Tyrosine Kinase-Like Orphan Receptor 1). This ADC uses exatecan (iexabepilone) as the payload, delivered through a β-glucuronidase-cleavable linker. In addition to STRO-003, Sutro has other ADC candidates in clinical development, including FRa ADC and CD74 ADC, as well as TF ADC in preclinical stages. The company is also collaborating with Astellas on immunostimulatory ADCs (iADCs) in preclinical research.

In the ROR1 ADC space, other notable candidates include CS5001 from LegoChem/Cornerstone, Zilovertamab Vedotin (MK-2140) from Merck/VelosBio, a bispecific antibody-drug conjugate from Bolt Biotherapeutics, and NBE-002 from BI/NBE Therapeutics. According to recent clinical data from Cornerstone, CS5001 has demonstrated promising anti-tumor activity and a favorable safety profile across various solid tumors and hematological malignancies.

This transaction not only highlights the immense potential of ADC technology in targeted cancer therapy, but also reflects the intense competition among domestic and international pharmaceutical companies in this field. A thorough analysis of the current clinical and market landscape of ROR1 ADCs will help us better understand the future development trends of innovative medicines.