Adding to Claudin18.2 port­fo­lio, As­traZeneca pays $63M cash for an­ti­body-drug con­ju­gate out of Chi­na

As­traZeneca is slid­ing an­oth­er can­di­date that tar­gets Claudin18.2 in­to its pipeline — and this time it’s go­ing for one that’s al­ready in the clin­ic.

The phar­ma gi­ant is grab­bing CMG901, an an­ti­body-drug con­ju­gate, from Chi­na’s KYM Bio­sciences. In its an­nounce­ment, As­traZeneca spot­light­ed Claudin18.2 as a promis­ing tar­get in gas­tric can­cer.

Sport­ing $63 mil­lion up­front, the new deal fol­lows As­traZeneca’s li­cens­ing pact with Har­bour Bio­Med last April for a pre­clin­i­cal bis­pe­cif­ic, which came with $25 mil­lion cash. Un­der the new deal, KYM Bio­sciences can earn as much as $1.1 bil­lion in mile­stones.

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