JAB-23E73

KRAS has been an area of interest for AstraZeneca since 2012.\n AstraZeneca has fronted $100 million to head deeper into the KRAS space, securing the rights to a clinical-stage, multitarget asset from China’s Jacobio Pharma.U.K.-based AstraZeneca has scored the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the pan-KRAS inhibitor, dubbed JAB-23E73, outside China. On Jacobio’s home territory, the Beijing-headquartered biopharma will jointly work on the therapy with AstraZeneca.JAB-23E73 was developed with Jacobio\'s induced allosteric drug discovery platform, which the company has designed to target multiple KRAS mutation subtypes. So far, the biopharma has been evaluating JAB-23E73 in phase 1 studies in both China and the U.S., with Jacobio pointing to “early signs of anti-tumor activity.”That activity appears to have been enough to attract AstraZeneca, which—beyond the $100 million upfront payment—is also liable to make development and commercial milestone payments of up to $1.91 billion as well as distribute tiered royalties on net sales outside of China.KRAS has been an area of interest for AstraZeneca since 2012, when the pharma licensed an anti-KRAS antisense oligonucleotide, AZD4785, from Ionis Pharmaceuticals. That candidate never progressed past phase 1, with AstraZeneca pulling the plug after wrapping up a trial in 2019, but the company’s research teams continued to work on the target.After discovering the KRAS G12C inhibitor AZD4625, AstraZeneca tweaked the molecule to generate the clinical candidate AZD4747. Then, in 2023, the drugmaker headed to China to license a preclinical KRAS G12D asset from Usynova.“KRAS is one of the most important oncogenes in cancer, with KRAS-mutated tumours driving profound unmet need for patients with pancreatic, colorectal and lung cancers,” Matt Hellmann, M.D., senior vice president, early oncology and precision medicine, oncology R&D, AstraZeneca, said in yesterday’s release.“By advancing KRAS inhibitors like JAB-23E73, and in combination with our diverse oncology portfolio, we aim to accelerate the development of new treatment regimens that have the potential to transform outcomes for patients,” Hellmann added. AstraZeneca isn’t the first pharma to see potential in Jacobio’s pipeline. AbbVie secured the rights to Jacobio’s SHP2 portfolio in 2020 before handing back the assets as part of a portfolio review two years later.More recently, Allist Pharmaceuticals paid about $21 million last year for the rights to one of those SHP2 inhibitors as well as a KRAS G12C inhibitor called glecirasib. Glecirasib demonstrated an overall response rate of 47.9% in a Chinese trial of 119 patients with locally advanced or metastatic KRAS G12C mutated non-small cell lung cancer last year and went on to secure approval in China in May 2025.Jacobio’s co-CEO Yinxiang Wang, Ph.D., said yesterday’s deal with AstraZeneca “marks a significant step forward as we bring our world-class programs to the global stage and maximize the value of our R&D innovation.”“This agreement strengthens Jacobio\'s financial position, accelerates the global development efforts, and expands our presence in the global oncology innovation ecosystem,” added the company, which also has an R&D  presence in Boston.