With Ties to the Bay Area, ADC Therapeutics Pulls in $105 Million

October 18, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

LAUSANNE, Switzerland – A fresh infusion of $105 million in private placement will allow oncology drug discovery company ADC Therapeutics to accelerate the company’s product development and carry its candidates through clinical development, the company announced this morning.

ADC Therapeutics, which was founded in 2012 and maintains a presence in San Francisco, is developing proprietary Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) that target major cancers, such as acute myeloid leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The company's ADCs are highly targeted biopharmaceutical drugs that combine monoclonal antibodies specific to surface antigens present on particular tumor cells with a novel class of highly potent pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD)-based warheads via a chemical linker.

DCT's first two programs, ADCT-301 and ADCT-402, are currently in four clinical studies in important sub-types of lymphoma and leukemia. In March, ADC Therapeutics dosed its first patient in the ADCT-402 Phase I trial for positive B-cell non-Hodgkin Lymphomas. The trial is being conducted in two stages, a dose escalation stage and a safety and efficacy stage. ADCT-402 combines a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting the protein CD19 with a pyrrolo-benzodiazepine (PBD) warhead. In February, the first patient in the ADCT-301 Phase I trial for in patients with relapsed or refractory CD-25 positive AML was dosed. ADCT-301 is composed of HuMax-TAC, a monoclonal antibody directed against CD25 (the alpha chain of the IL-2 receptor) conjugated to ADCT’s highly potent proprietary pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) dimer, the company said.

ADCT anticipates its next two pipeline programs, both targeting solid tumor cancers, are expected to begin clinical development later in 2016 and early in 2017, respectively, the company said. ADCT said it expects to have a total of six programs in clinical development within 18 months.

"This financing acknowledges the progress ADCT has made with its pipeline of clinical and preclinical programs in areas of high unmet medical need. We are now extremely well positioned to support our lead programs through multiple expansion studies based on the efficacy signals that are emerging from our initial clinical trials. We continue to rapidly grow our pipeline of proprietary antibody-drug conjugates in important hematological and solid tumor indications both on our own and in partnerships," Chris Martin, ADCT’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The company said the $105 million in financing was “oversubscribed and supported” by both new and existing investors, including parent company Auven Therapeutics, the Wild Family Office and AstraZeneca . Since its launch in 2012, ADCT has raised $255 million to advance its pipeline of proprietary ADCs.

Since the company sprang out of Auven, ADC Therapeutics has cultivated relationships with several large pharma companies, including AstraZeneca and its biologics arm, MedImmune , Genmab and Cancer Research Technology.