Under a new commercialization deal between ADC Therapeutics and rare disease drugmaker Sobi, the antibody drug conjugate drug Zynlonta is set to make its way to more markets worldwide.
ADC has signed a deal granting Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi) rights to develop and market Zynlonta in hematologic and solid tumor indications outside of the U.S., excluding greater China, Singapore, and Japan. ADC gets $55 million up front, plus $50 million if the medicine wins European approval in third-line diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
Regulatory and sales milestones could garner approximately $330 million more for ADC. Down the line, the company could net sales-based royalties, as well.
Last April, Zynlonta won approval under the FDA’s accelerated approval pathway as the first and only CD19-targeted antibody drug conjugate (ADC) for adult patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL after two or more lines of systemic therapy. The drug is also being evaluated as an option in combination studies in other B-cell malignancies.
Meanwhile, ADC has a license agreement with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation for the commercialization of the drug in Japan. For China and Singapore, the company is working with Overland ADCT BioPharma, a collaboration between ADC and Overland Pharmaceuticals. The joint company is now conducting a phase 2 clinical trial for the drug in China.
Last year, the company enlisted Avid Bioservices to rev up commercial manufacturing for the drug.
More recently, ADC named Novartis vet Ameet Mallik as its CEO back in May. Last month, it tapped David Gilman as its chief business and strategy officer.
For its part, Sobi recently announced that it will cut staff at its Stockholm manufacturing facility in response to Pfizer’s decision to move production of hemophilia drug ReFacto to its own Ireland operations. Sobi will cut about 80 positions over the next two years, the company said at the time. Its contract with Pfizer will expire in the first quarter of 2024, as opposed to the previously scheduled timeframe of late 2025.