Astellas inks deal with Sutro Biopharma on immunostimulatory antibody-drug conjugates

Japanese pharma major Astellas Pharma (TYO: 4503) today announced a worldwide, strategic collaboration and licensing agreement with USA-based drug developer Sutro Biopharma (Nasdaq: STRO), focused on the discovery and development of novel immunostimulatory antibody-drug conjugates (iADCs).

The collaboration leverages the unique cancer-fighting potential of iADCs as a novel modality, enabled by Sutro’s ability to engineer complex conjugated antibodies, and Astellas’ global oncology R&D expertise, and the news pushed Sutro’s shares up 15.5% to $5.00 by mid-morning trading.

“We are delighted to work with Astellas, a premier biopharmaceutical company with substantial “iADCs hold promise well beyond the existing success of ADCs. Sutro’s unique conjugation technology enables dual conjugations that site-specifically incorporate a potent cytotoxin that can directly kill tumor cells together with an immunostimulatory component that has the potential to locally prime an immune response to the patient’s particular tumor cells. We look forward to collaboratively exploring the potential of this approach to treat cold tumors and bring new drug therapies to patients who do not respond to existing immunotherapies.”