Astra buys itself a second shot at the Claudin18.2 goal

 While Astellas’s Spotlight study of zolbetuximab stole most of the thunder for assets targeting Claudin18.2 at the recent Asco-GI meeting, Astrazeneca was apparently taken by a more low-key project, Keymed’s CMG901. A phase 1 trial of the latter elicited a 75% remission rate among just eight patients, the meeting heard, and this was enough for the UK company to license it for $63m up front this morning. The trial actually enrolled 27 subjects, and the eight highlighted represent only patients with Claudin18.2-positive gastric/gastroesophageal junction cancer. Claudin18.2 has become a hot area, and Astrazeneca is notable for having struck two deals now in the space of a year; as well as CMG901, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), last April Astra licensed in Harbour Biomed’s HBM7022, a T-cell engaging MAb. It appears that Astra wants to have multiple shots on goal, and if the price does not break the bank this seems wise. Innovent is another group targeting Claudin18.2 with multiple modalities – having an ADC as well as a Car-T therapy in clinical development. Perhaps Astra’s next move here, given its recent interest in cell therapy, will involve an anti-Claudin18.2 Car-T project.

Claudin18.2-targeting projects excluding simple antibodies*
Project	Company	Approach	Status	Claudin18.2 positivity required?
SKB315	Merck & Co (ex Kelun)	MAb-drug conjugate	Ph1 solid tumours	Yes
TPX-4589/ LM-302	Bristol Myers Squibb (ex Turning Point/Lanova)	MAb-drug conjugate	Ph1/2 solid tumours	Yes
CMG901	Astrazeneca (ex Keymed)	MAb-drug conjugate	Ph1 gastric, pancreatic, GEJ	Only in dose expansion
EO-3021/ SYSA1801	Elevation Oncology (ex CSPC)	MAb-drug conjugate	Ph1 gastric, pancreatic, GEJ	Yes
SOT102	Sotio/ Boehringer Ingelheim (ex NBE-Therapeutics)	MAb-drug conjugate	Ph1/2 gastric, pancreatic, GEJ	Only in dose expansion
SHR-A1904	Jiangsu Hengrui	MAb-drug conjugate	Ph1/2 solid tumours	Yes
TORL-2-307-ADC	Torl Biotherapeutics	MAb-drug conjugate	Ph1 gastric, pancreatic, GEJ	No
RC118	Remegen/ Biocytogen	MAb-drug conjugate	Ph1 solid tumours	Yes
JS107	Shanghai Junshi	MAb-drug conjugate	Ph1 +/- toripalimab	No
IBI343	Innovent Biologics	MAb-drug conjugate	Ph1 solid tumours	Only in dose expansion
IBI345	Innovent Biologics	Car-T	Ph1 solid tumours	Only in dose expansion
CT041	Carsgen Therapeutics	Car-T	Ph1/2 gastric, pancreatic	Yes
LB1908	Legend Biotech	Car-T	Ph1 gastric, pancreatic, oesophageal, GEJ	Yes
KD-496	Kaedi Biotech	Car-T**	Ph1 gastric, pancreatic	Yes***
Notes: *only clinical-stage assets, excluding naked MAbs or T-cell engagers; **bispecific Car that also hits NKG2DL; ***also requires NKG2DL positivity. Source: clinicaltrials.gov. https://www.evaluate.com/vantage/articles/news/snippets/astra-buys-itself-second-shot-claudin182-goal