Bounc­ing from ma­jor set­back, Sum­mit hands out $500M cash for can­cer drug — thanks to a loan from bil­lion­aire CEO

Af­ter hit­ting a dead end with Sum­mit Ther­a­peu­tics’ lead pro­gram, Bob Dug­gan has found the drug that he be­lieves will ush­er in­to a com­pelling sec­ond act. So com­pelling, in fact, that it in­volves $500 mil­lion cash — and he’s tak­ing mon­ey out of his own pock­et to fund the deal.

Strik­ing a part­ner­ship with Ake­so Ther­a­peu­tics out of Chi­na, Sum­mit is bring­ing in a bis­pe­cif­ic an­ti­body that blocks both PD-1 and VEGF called ivonescimab. Ake­so, which has a PD-1/CT­LA-4 bis­pe­cif­ic ap­proved in Chi­na, has al­ready tak­en ivonescimab in­to mul­ti­ple clin­i­cal tri­als, in­clud­ing a Phase III in lung can­cer.

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