UK-based GSK has entered an exclusive global licensing agreement with France's Syndivia for a pre-clinical-stage antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) through a potential GBP 268 million (USD 358 million) deal, including upfront payment and development milestones. The candidate utilises the proprietary GeminiMab conjugation platform, demonstrating enhanced antitumour activity with a favourable safety profile in pre-clinical studies and inducing significant tumour shrinkage without dose-limiting toxicities at higher dose levels. GSK oncology research senior vice president Hesham Abdullah highlighted the candidate's complementarity with existing B7-H3-targeting ADC GSK'227, expanding the prostate cancer pipeline across different mechanisms and disease stages.

mCRPC affects 10% to 20% of prostate cancer patients within 5 years, with limited treatment options and 30% 5-year survival rate. Syndivia's next-generation ADC technology enables improved therapeutic index through optimised linker-payload combination. The partnership strengthens GSK's oncology portfolio alongside small molecules and T-cell engagers in this high-incidence cancer representing a significant unmet medical need, with approximately 1.4 million annual diagnoses globally.

PharmCube's NextBiopharm® database shows that this is Syndivia's second licensing deal, and the first with Big Pharma. Click here to request a free trial for NextBiopharm®.