ARTICLE | Product Development
Challenging King Keytruda
Will bispecifics be the drugs to dethrone cancer’s biggest blockbusters? Akeso aims to find out with ivonescimab
September 10, 2024 2:48 AM UTC
Updated on Sep 11, 2024 at 5:12 PM UTC
Evidence is building that bispecific antibodies can do more than draw an activated T cell to a tumor. Bispecific structures that execute two separate anticancer effects may be the compounds with the greatest clinical and commercial impact, and they’re taking on market-leading cancer drugs — and winning.
The latest example is ivonescimab from Akeso Inc. (HKEX:9926). The VEGFxPD-1 bispecific antibody went up against Keytruda pembrolizumab in one of its largest indications, first-line non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). It nearly doubled progression-free survival over the PD-1 blocker in a Phase III study in China...