Our Technology

Our Thinking:

We are focused on cell surface targets in populations with the greatest unmet patient need. Our team selects novel targets and targets with evidence of clinical activity to develop fit-for-purpose ADCs.

Our Targets include:

• human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) (zanidatamab zovodotin)
• Folate Receptor Alpha (FRa) (ZW191)
• Glypican-3 (GPC3) (ZW251)
• NaPi2b (ZW220)

Our Thinking:

Antibodies specifically selected for ADC use can increase the likelihood of developing a successful ADC. We leverage internal antibody discovery expertise to select antibodies with superior internalization, payload delivery, and tumor penetration for use in our ADC product candidates. Additionally, we use our Azymetric™ technology to create biparatopic and bispecific antibodies that may improve internalization, specificity, and lower the target expression threshold for our ADCs.

Our Thinking:

Conjugation chemistry and linker technology can improve preclinical maximum tolerated dose (MTD) through increased stability, but this approach is not necessarily supported by clinical evidence. Site specific conjugation can enable optimization of ADC biophysical characteristics and precision tailoring of drug to antibody ratio where required. We believe that conjugation chemistry and linker design should be tailored to payload mechanism, site of action, biophysical characteristics, pharmacokinetics, and potency. Antibody target biology and structural characteristics are considered as part of a holistic design approach for linkers and ADCs.

Our Linker/Conjugation:

• Our proprietary cysteine-insertion conjugation platform is leveraged where appropriate
• Stochastic cysteine and lysine-based conjugation methods are generally suitable

Our Thinking:

Payloads should be matched with antibody targets based on tumor type, target biology, and antigen expression. Payload potency dictates platform tolerability and determines if ADCs can be dosed at sufficient levels to overcome exposure limitations of on-target off-tumor disposition. Exploring payloads with better drug-like properties (such as solubility, permeability, metabolic stability, and transporter substrate profile) may improve clinical ADC attrition rates.

Our Payloads:

• Auristatin (ZD02044)
• Topoisomerase 1 inhibitor (ZD06519)
• Hemiasterlin (ZD01886)
• TLR7 agonist ISAC (immunostimulatory drug conjugates)