ABL Bio inks clinical collaboration with Merck

7 October 2024

South Korea’s ABL Bio Corp (KS: 298380) on Friday revealed that it has entered into a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with MSD (the ex-US/Canada trading name of Merck & Co [NYSE: MRK]), to evaluate ABL103 in combination with MSD's anti-PD-1 therapy, Keytruda (pembrolizumab).

ABL Bio – whose shares rose 4% on the news -will conduct a phase Ib/II clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ABL103 in combination with Keytruda. In this combination study, MSD will supply Keytruda.

ABL103 is bispecific antibody that simultaneously targets B7-H4 and 4-1BB. ABL103 is one of the pipeline programs in which ABL Bio's 4-1BB based bispecific antibody platform 'Grabody-T' has been applied. Grabody-T is designed to activate T cells only in the tumor microenvironment, reducing the liver toxicity of conventional 4-1BB monoclonal antibody and enhancing the antitumor activity.

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