Synthon's SYD985 may broaden target population of cancer patients

Dutch generic drugs company Synthon Biopharmaceuticals has released the results of a head-to-head comparative program of its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) SYD985 with Swiss drug major Roche’s (ROG: SIX) market leading anti-HER2 ADC, T-DM1 Kadcyla; (ado-trastuzumab emtansine).

SYD985 is a HER2-targeting ADC based on trastuzumab and Synthon’s proprietary cleavable linker-duocarmycin (vc-seco-DUBA) payload. Data support the potential of SYD985 to address the high unmet medical need of patients with HER2 2+ and HER2 1+ breast cancer for whom there is currently no effective therapy available.

Comparisons were drawn in in vitro and in vivo testing. The in vivo study was conducted in patient-derived xenograft models in mice - preclinical models known for their highly predictive value for clinical outcome. In the study, which involved breast cancer models, SYD985 demonstrated unprecedented anti-tumor activity and clearly outperformed T-DM1, particularly where there was a low expression of HER2. More in-depth analyses and preclinical data on this benchmark study with SYD985 will be presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2014.