Zymeworks has pumped the brakes on plans to take one of its antibody-drug conjugates into the clinic so it can prioritize another candidate.
Zymeworks has dosed the first patient in its Phase I clinical trial of ZW191, an investigational therapy, aimed at treating advanced solid tumors that express folate receptor-α (FRα).
Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) may be one of the hottest dealmaking areas this year, but that hasn't stopped Zymeworks from halting phase 2 plans for its HER2 ADC to assess the “evolving clinical landscape.”
The bispecific ADC combines Zymework’s lead asset, a HER2-targeted bispecific antibody called zanidatamab, with a toxic chemotherapy. The company hailed “promising results” from a phase 1 trial of zanidatamab zovodotin, also known as ZW49, as a monotherapy for an array of HER2-expressing cancers at the end of 2022.
After more than six years, Zymeworks and Daiichi Sankyo have agreed to part ways from an immuno-oncology agreement that once had the potential to bring in more than $293 million in biobucks.
Zymeworks executives didn’t want to speak for Jazz Pharmaceuticals about the strength of data from a midstage readout for biliary tract cancer drug zanidatamab earlier this week. But it didn’t take long for Jazz to speak up loud and clear: We’re in.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals has thrown its hat into the HER2 ring. For $50 million, the company has secured the chance to pay a further $325 million to take Zymeworks’ HER2-directed bispecific antibody forward after the release of pivotal data.
Zymeworks $ZYME is pulling out all the stops as it looks to wriggle out of a hostile takeover effort.
A few days ago, Zymeworks CEO Kenneth Galbraith told Endpoints News at ASCO that he was shopping for a major league partner to help carry their lead drug — zanidatamab — into the market, looking to brighten perceptions of its prospects after its share price was mauled and a discount buyer named All Blue Capital came calling. And at the end of the week, the board adopted a poison pill defense aimed at sickening All Blue’s takeover attempt at a modest price offering.
Zymeworks’ new CEO Kenneth Galbraith has vastly remade the nearly 20-year-old biotech in the few short months he’s run the show. But his efforts to turn things around have apparently ruffled some feathers.
Kenneth Galbraith has made an immediate mark on Zymeworks. Days after taking up the CEO position, Galbraith has axed half the senior management team and disclosed plans to cut total headcount by 25%.
Zymeworks disclosed the CEO transition Jan. 5, at which time it expected Galbraith to take up his new post by the start of February. Galbraith arrived well ahead of schedule and acted fast, assuming the role Jan. 15 and culling colleagues in his first week in the job.
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2021 runs from September 16–21, 2021. Here’s a preview of some of the presentations at the meeting.
Gilead Sciences will be presenting new research on its Trodelvy (Sacituzumab govitecan-hziy). Trodelvy is a first-in-class antibody-drug conjugate (ADC). It is made up of an antibody and topoisomerase inhibitor conjugate targeting the Trop-2 receptor. The presentation will look at the value of the drug for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).