On May 29, 2025 Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503, President and CEO: Naoki Okamura, "Astellas") and Evopoint Biosciences (Evopoint Biosciences Co., Ltd.) reported they have entered into an exclusive license agreement for XNW27011, a novel investigational clinical-stage antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting CLDN18.2 (Press release, Astellas, MAY 29, 2025, View Source,-a-Novel-Clinical-stage-Antibody-Drug-Conjugate-Targeting-CLDN18-2 [SID1234653478]). The agreement grants Astellas a worldwide (excluding China’s mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan region) exclusive license to develop and commercialize XNW27011.
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XNW27011 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 study in China in patients with CLDN18.2-expressing solid tumors, including gastric cancer, gastroesophageal cancer and pancreatic cancer. It uses a proprietary topoisomerase I inhibitor payload and linker technology, an approach that has demonstrated clinical success in other approved cancer therapies.
Astellas has significant expertise in developing therapies that target CLDN18.2, including VYLOYTM, the first CLDN18.2-targeted therapy approved in the world. XNW27011 has the potential to address currently unmet patient need and will expand Astellas’ oncology pipeline which currently contains CLDN-targeting therapies utilizing different approaches, as well as ADC’s directed to other targets.
Under the terms of the agreement, Evopoint will receive a $130 million upfront payment and is eligible to receive up to $70 million near-term payments, and additional milestone payments associated with development, regulatory and commercialization milestones totaling up to $1.34 billion, as well as royalties on net sales of XNW27011, if approved.