As a powerful anticancer drug, ADC has become another hot research direction after PD-1. The global research heat of ADC drugs is rising rapidly. So far, 14 ADC drugs have been listed in the world. However, from small molecule targeted drugs to antibody drugs and then to ADC drugs, the competition for targets has never stopped.
According to the statistics of insight database, by the end of 2021, a total of 408 ADC drugs in the world were in different R & D stages, and the research targets focused on proven mature targets, such as HER2, Trop-2, etc. Industry analysts believe that pharmaceutical companies are too focused on hot targets for indications and clinical development, which will lead to increasing competition and falling into homogeneous competition.
At the third (Shanghai) biomedical innovators summit held recently, Zhang Fuyao, chairman and general manager of biling biology, Xiao Liang, co-founder and COO of Yilian biology, Fang Lei, vice president of R & D of Lepu biology, Wei Ziping, CEO of blisco, and Hong Jun, executive director of Tianjing biology, discussed and shared their views on ADC technology, target update iteration and competition pattern.
The following is a wonderful summary of the round table forum. The reporter of the science and Innovation Board Daily has deleted and changed the original intention:
will adc fall into the same inner volume as PD- 7
Zhang Fuyao: first of all, ADC cannot be compared with PD-1. PD-1 has a wide range of indications, ADC has specific indications, and the market scale is different.
Second, the project is like a marathon. It’s very difficult for you to win the place and get out of the top three. At present, the competition of ADC track is fierce. When super ADC appears, it is also worth thinking about how to break the game.
Xiao Liang: in fact, many investors have asked me this question, which I personally think is unlikely. Because different ADC technologies are quite different, there is a gap between Chinese ADC enterprises and international leading companies, including CMC. It is difficult to say whether they can do well. Therefore, it may not be as big as PD-1. It is expected that there will be differentiation in the future.
There will be good ones, but not many. At this time, there will be a winner take all situation. At the same time, the emergence of new technologies and new targets in the future will also give birth to new opportunities.
Fang Lei: pd-1 is a target given by God and the first brand-new therapeutic target in the field of tumor immunity. The development of its monoclonal antibody is also relatively mature. ADC brings another opportunity. The whole CMC is very difficult. Whether the designed molecules can be produced is also a great challenge.
Wei Ziping: when we first established the company in 17, many investors didn’t pay much attention to ADC at that time, but the transactions in ADC field have been hot in recent years. The development threshold of ADC is very high. If we want to report an ind, the workload of CMC is about three times.
Later, ds-8201, the super ADC drug of the first Sanyong, opened Shanghai New World Co.Ltd(600628) . It turns out that ADC can have so many indications approved and such good curative effect, which brings a great change to the industry.
But if you are doing ADC now, if you see that three drugs have been approved on one target, it depends on whether your drugs are differentiated. If there is no differentiation, there is no reason to go on. It is best to put resources on another ADC and other targets.
innovative drugs are cold in the capital market. What do you think
Zhang Fuyao: the failure of listing may be due to the fact that China had more capital and less R & D in the early stage, which promoted the high market value of enterprises. The failure may return the company to normal valuation. Since the second half of last year, the industry has encountered bottlenecks and capital exit difficulties. Capital is very sensitive, so capital investment in ADC field will be more cautious in the future.
Xiao Liang: after the bubble burst, there will be a new development. As long as the value exists, there will be momentum in the development of the industry. In the past, some innovative pharmaceutical companies in China were overvalued, and now the correction is normal.
I think it’s up to investors to see if the drugs you make represent the future direction. With the acceleration of internationalization, whether you can PK with the most advanced technology in the world.
Fang Lei: about the upside down of the secondary market, we can see that in 2015, the capital inflow was rapid and the industry was booming. By 2018, it experienced another round of value return.
With more and more IPO companies, capital will become more and more picky. The current market will test whether the development of enterprises has real strength. Enterprises need to make differentiation. They should use limited funds to make one or two differentiated products that really solve clinical needs, rather than making a few small pipelines.
Wei Ziping: pharmaceutical industry is a sunrise industry, which needs a long-term vision. We still firmly believe that good, differentiated and internationally competitive products can bring rich returns to enterprises.
Drastic fluctuations in valuation are very common in the US market. The third phase results of new drugs are not good, and the share price has fallen by 80% everywhere; The result is good, and it is normal for the share price to double at once. That is, for pharmaceutical enterprises, the clinical results of drugs will directly affect the stock price. I think it is risky to make only one drug. We should control the rhythm of the product pipeline. When a drug is not good enough, there can be other hopes.
how to break the game
Zhang Fuyao: now there are about 100 different antibody drug targets. If they can act on tumors, there should be at least nearly 100 different ADC targets, but there may be only more than a dozen targets at present, and many targets have not been developed. This may be because many targets cannot be endocytosed. If we can understand the mechanism clearly, this may be a direction.
Xiao Liang: the target of differentiation is always pursued in the industry, which is the Pearl on the crown, but it is difficult to achieve. There are also successful cases and technical differences in clinical design. For example, the development of Rongchang biology was not very smooth at the beginning, but it found a way out through differentiated clinical design and has the first approved domestic ADC new drug.
Fang Lei: from Lepu biology, the combination of ADC and PD-1 will be the top priority for us to move forward in clinic. For the development of new ADC, we will consider making up for and differentiating from the existing pipeline.
Wei Ziping: we hope to use our own expertise and conduct extensive cooperation with the industry to make the best molecules and strive to be the best in all aspects.
