EpimAb Biotherapeutics, Inc.

The combined upfront payment, development and sales milestones could reach $925 million, on top of royalties should the candidate make it to market.\n Candid Therapeutics is continuing its mission to flesh out a pipeline of T-cell engagers in record time, signing a $925 million biobucks deal with WuXi Biologics for a preclinical candidate.The asset in question is a trispecific T-cell engager developed by WuXi’s multispecific antibody platform WuXiBody. Candid is eyeing getting the candidate into the clinic in the first half of 2026.Helmed by biotech veteran Ken Song, M.D., Candid burst onto the scene in September 2024 equipped with a $370 million series A and T-cell engagers targeting B-cell maturation antigen and CD20 that were brought over from the concurrent acquisitions of the biotechs Vignette Bio and TRC 2004.Since then, Candid has partnered with EpimAb Biotherapeutics, Nona Biosciences and Ab Studio to beef up its pipeline further.Today’s deal with WuXi “further solidif[ies] our leadership position in T-cell engagers to deplete B cells for treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases,” Song explained in the Jan. 6 post-market release.“This transaction uniquely positions us with three TCE programs targeting BCMA, CD20, and CD19 in or near clinical development,” the Candid CEO added. “We are excited to further the advances made by WuXi Biologics and to unlock the full potential of this molecule.” Neither company went into the fine details of the transaction, only saying that the combined upfront payment, development and sales milestones could reach $925 million, on top of royalties should the candidate make it to market.T-cell engagers are bispecific antibodies that bind to T cells and a molecule on a target cell, coercing the T cells to attack the target.WuXi, a large biopharma service provider, has previously been tapped up by the likes of BioNTech and GSK to pad out their own antibody offerings.

Candid Therapeutics is committing up to $925 million for the rights to a trispecific T cell engager candidate developed by WuXi Biologics, further expanding its autoimmune disease pipeline. WuXi is eligible to get the cash split across upfront and milestone payments, as well as royalties on potential sales, according to a Monday release . San Diego-based Candid plans to finish IND-enabling studies for the unnamed preclinical program with an eye to starting first-in-human trials in the first half of 2026. The asset was developed via WuXi’s multispecific antibody platform called WuXiBody. The technology uses “novel engineering” to speed up the antibody drug development process by six to 18 months and cut production costs, according to the company. The deal “uniquely positions us with three TCE programs targeting BCMA, CD20, and CD19 in or near clinical development,” Candid CEO Ken Song said in the release. Song launched Candid in September 2024 with a capital raise of more than $370 million, less than a year after he oversaw the sale of RayzeBio to Bristol Myers Squibb for around $4.1 billion. Song’s latest venture has made several moves to grow its TCE portfolio of late. In December, Candid inked a trio of deals focused on discovering or developing T cell engagers with Nona Biosciences, Ab Studio and EpimAb Biotherapeutics. The partnership with EpimAb featured more than $1 billion in upfront and milestone payments. Other than the asset licensed from WuXi, Candid has a BCMAxCD3 bispecific antibody called CND106 that’s completed a Phase 1 dose-escalation trial in cancer and is now in development for autoantibody diseases. The company also has a CD20xCD3 bispecific dubbed CND261 that it’s advancing for autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. WuXi Bio refers to itself as a CRDMO — a CDMO with a research service — and has been under the spotlight in the past year due to the Biosecure Act. Also on Monday, it said that it was selling a manufacturing facility in Ireland for $500 million to Merck.

T cells play a vital role in the immune system’s fight against disease and infection. Image credit: Shutterstock / CI Photos. US-based Candid Therapeutics has signed another T-cell engager (TCE) partnership, this time with Chinese biotech WuXi Biologics for the global rights to a preclinical asset. Under the deal, Candid will have exclusive global rights to a tri-specific TCE discovered by WuXi using its WuXiBody platform. The Chinese company is set to receive an undisclosed upfront payment, as well as development and sales milestones totalling up to $925m. Candid stated it plans to conduct first-in-human studies of the potential treatment in the first half of 2026. The companies did not specifically reveal what indications the preclinical TCE could be used for, but Candid’s CEO Dr Ken Song said the deal means the US biotech now has “three T cell engager programmes targeting BCMA, CD20, and CD19 in or near clinical development”. Song added: “We are excited to further the advances made by WuXi Biologics and to unlock the full potential of this molecule.” TCEs are antibodies engineered to redirect the immune system’s T cells to recognise and attack certain cells. Much of the modality’s emerging use has come in oncology, with cancer cells being the target. However, the immunotherapeutic can also be used to treat autoimmune diseases by targeting autoreactive B cells. Candid has been pumping money into deals over the past year as it aims to become a self-confessed leader in TCEs for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The biotech signed a hat trick of research deals in December 2024 to bolster its pipeline. One of them, with EpimAb Biotherapeutics, is potentially worth more than $1bn depending on commercial milestones, while another with Nona Biosciences is worth up to $320m. Candid emerged on the scene in September 2024 with a $370m Series A funding round and two lead assets. These candidates – CND106 and CND261 – remain the only two disclosed by the company in its pipeline. CND106 is a BCMAxCD3 bispecific antibody designed to target and eliminate later-stage B cells, which are responsible for producing harmful autoantibodies while CND261 targets a broad range of B-cell subtypes. Candid has completed Phase I dose escalation in oncology patients for both candidates (NCT04735575 and NCT04923048) and is now developing them for unmet autoimmune disease needs.