Pharma companies jump into developing 'TPD' for cancer

Global pharmaceutical companies, like Pfizer, secure novel 'TPD' drugs by acquiring technology transfers

Korean biopharmaceutical companies, like Yuhan and SK Biopharmaceutical, also begin developing

The global and Korean pharmaceutical industries are focusing on securing Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD) technology, which has emerged following the success of Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs).

 

Recently, major global pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Novartis, and Eli Lilly have successfully acquired TPD technologies, marking TPD as a new anti-cancer drug development strategy, following targeted therapies, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and ADCs.

 

Korean pharmaceutical and biotech industries are also exploring the potential of TPD drug development and have achieved successful technology transfers.

 

According to industry sources on September 3rd, several Korean biopharmaceutical companies, including Yuhan Pharmaceutical, SK Biopharmaceuticals, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Samjin Pharmaceutical, and Orum Therapeutics, have jumped into developing novel TPD drugs.

 

TPD drugs are the next-generation new drug candidate that can use an intracellular protein degradation system to degrade protein of interest specifically.

 

Unlike conventional small-molecule targeted drugs that inhibit protein function, novel TPD drugs offer superior therapeutic effects and avoid tolerance by directly degrading and eliminating disease-causing proteins.

 

TPD drugs can target over 80% of disease-causing proteins that conventional small-molecule drugs could not modulate.

 

The mechanism of the TPD technology, previously referred to as PROTAC (source=KRICT).

SK Biopharmaceuticals has identified TPD as a promising future field and is advancing its development as a follow-up to its epilepsy treatment, Xcopri.

 

Last year, the company invested KRW 62 billion to acquire Proteovant, securing TPD technology.

 

Founded in March 2020 in the U.S., Proteovant is a biotech venture with global-level technology in the TPD field and molecular glue technology.

 

Yuhan Pharmaceutical is also eyeing the opportunity to develop TPD drugs as a follow-up to its non-small cell lung cancer treatment (NSCLC), Leclaza.

 

The company acquired the prostate cancer drug candidate 'UBX-103' in July from Ubix Therapeutics.

 

As a result, Yuhan Pharmaceutical has secured the lead for clinical trials and exclusive rights for the development and commercialization of UBX-103.

 

The recently acquired 'UBX-103' by Yuhan Pharmaceutical is a novel prostate cancer drug candidate based on TPD technology.

 

UBX-103 works by degrading the androgen receptor, overexpressed or hyperactivated in prostate cancer patients.

 

In the non-clinical studies, UBX-103 showed ten times superior androgen receptor degradation and suppression of prostate cancer cell proliferation in wild type and mutant compared to 'ARV-110' of Arvinas, a U.S.-based company.

 

In a castration-resistant prostate cancer mouse model, the drug showed three times more anti-cancer efficacy than ARV-110.

 

Orum Therapeutics is proving its R&D capacity by successfully out-licensing TPD platform to global pharmaceutical companies.

 

In July last year, the company signed an out-licensing agreement with the U.S.-based biotechnology company Vertex Pharmaceuticals for its TPD.

 

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is a company that developed a CRISPR/Cas9 gene-edited therapy, exa-cel.

 

Utilizing Orum Therapeutics' Dual-Precision TPD (TPD2), Vertex Pharmaceuticals plans to discover 'conditioning agents,' which are used to wash bone marrow before injecting patients with gene editing products.

 

TPD, provided by Orum Therapeutics, is a technology that specifically degrades target proteins.

 

Daewoong Pharmaceutical and Samjin Pharmaceutical have signed a strategic business agreement with the Korean TPD discovery company Pin Therapeutics to develop novel drugs.

 

Pin Therapeutics is a novel drug discovery company established in 2017 that conducts global R&D by collaborating with 'PinUS,' a wholly-owned subsidiary in the United States.

 

Global pharmaceutical companies proactively conduct novel TPD drugs

Global pharmaceutical companies are also proactively developing novel TPD drugs.

 

AstraZeneca has signed an out-licensing deal with the U.S.-based PineTree Therapeutics for exclusive sales and global rights.

 

PineTree Therapeutics is a company established in 2019 in Boston, U.S., specializing in the development of novel drugs.

 

PineTree Therapeutics' EGFR degrader candidate was developed using its proprietary multi-antibody platform, 'AbRaptor.' Based on the research, this candidate demonstrated anti-tumor activity when used in tumors resistant to drugs such as tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI).

 

AstraZeneca has the EGFR drugs Tagrisso and Iressa for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

 

Utilizing the TPD technology, the company plans to develop follow-up drugs for Tagrisso and Iressa.

 

Global pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Novartis have invested over KRW 1 trillion in Arvinas' TPD pipeline development.

 

The U.S.-based company Arvinas is a leader in the TPD field.

 

Arvinas' platform PROTAC was previously referred to as TPD technology.

 

The company is the only company in the world to own a proprietary novel TPD candidate that has entered the Phase 2 trial.

 

In 2021, Arvinas signed an out-licensing deal with Pfizer for its novel TPD drug, 'ARV-471,' for breast cancer treatment.

 

It also transferred androgen receptor degrader 'ARV-766' to Novartis.

 

With the agreement, Novartis will be responsible for the global clinical trial development and commercialization of ARV-766.

 

Last year, Arvinas announced ARV-766's interim data from dose escalation research.

 

Based on the clinical results, the drug demonstrated a 50% reduction of prostate-specific antibody (PSA) in 41% of patients with mutations in the ligand-binding domain in the androgen receptor.

 

Novartis will aim to commercialize ARV-766 as a prostate cancer treatment and enter the later stage of clinical trials.

 

Additionally, various global companies like Novo Nordisk, Astellas, and Eli Lilly have jumped into this field by investing in companies developing novel TPD drugs.