Chugai and Araris form $780m ADC research partnership

Chugai Pharmaceutical has announced a significant partnership with Araris Biotech, focusing on the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), with a deal potentially worth up to $780 million. This collaboration will see Araris utilize its specialized ADC platform to create ADCs from antibodies provided by Chugai, targeting unspecified areas of interest. Chugai, a company based in Japan, will fund the research phase and, should it choose to proceed with any candidate, will manage the development, manufacturing, and global commercialization.

ADCs are emerging as a promising approach in oncology, representing one of the most rapidly expanding segments in cancer drug research. Chugai has a history in this field, having already managed the approval of Polivy, a lymphoma treatment developed by its major shareholder Roche, in Japan. Despite this, the company's current drug pipeline does not list any ADCs under development.

Araris Biotech, a company spun off from the Paul Scherrer Institute and ETH Zurich, has developed innovative linker technology that allows the attachment of multiple cytotoxic payloads to antibodies efficiently. This breakthrough addresses several challenges associated with existing ADC technologies, such as heterogeneity, blood aggregation, and high production costs. The CEO of Araris, Dr. Dragan Grabulovski, emphasized that traditional ADCs typically deliver only one type of cytotoxic agent, which can lead to resistance and limited effectiveness. In contrast, their technology supports the conjugation of multiple payloads, creating what they term "multi-warhead ADCs," which mimic the effects of conventional chemotherapy.

This collaboration with Chugai follows a previous agreement Araris entered into with Taiho Pharmaceutical, also based in Japan, earlier in 2023. Dr. Grabulovski indicated that Araris is in discussions with other pharmaceutical companies, aiming to form additional high-value partnerships. Besides these collaborations, Araris is advancing its internal projects, focusing on developing ADCs targeting nectin-four and NaPi2b. The former target already has a market presence through Pfizer’s Padcev, though Araris's version boasts three distinct payloads as a unique feature. The latter target, NaPi2b, currently lacks any approved ADC treatments.

The ADC field has attracted substantial investment, with major pharmaceutical firms seeking to enhance their pipelines with these innovative therapies. Notably, Pfizer, which is also exploring multi-payload ADCs, acquired Seagen for a notable $43 billion in December 2023. Similarly, MSD and AbbVie have completed major acquisitions valued at $10.8 billion and $10.1 billion respectively in recent years. These substantial deals underscore the growing interest and potential value seen in ADC technology as companies aim to expand their offerings in the oncology space.