Akeso, Inc. (9926.HK)  ("Akeso" or the "Company") announced that its proprietary first-in-class trispecific antibody, AK150 (ILT2/ILT4/CSF1R), has received Investigational New Drug (IND) clearance from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for clinical trials in patients with advanced solid tumors.

AK150 is currently the only ILT2/ILT4/CSF1R trispecific antibody under development globally and is also Akeso's first trispecific molecule to enter the clinical stage. Engineered via Akeso's leading AI-driven drug discovery platform and its proprietary Tetrabody technology, AK150 stands as a global first-in-class innovation, once again demonstrating the company's deep expertise and strong R&D capabilities in the field of multispecific antibody therapeutics.

ILT2, ILT4, and CSF1R exhibit high expression levels in various solid tumors, particularly prominent in tumor types with significant immunosuppressive microenvironments, including non-small cell lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, pancreatic cancer, and some refractory breast cancers. Although current single- or dual-target therapies against macrophage related targets (such as those targeting ILT2, ILT4, or CSF1R) have shown some potential globally,  they still fall short of fully breaking the immunosuppressive network of the tumor microenvironment. This underscores an urgent need for multi-target synergistic innovative therapies capable of multi-dimensional immune remodeling to improve anti-tumor efficacy—especially to overcome the clinical challenge of traditional immunotherapy's insensitivity to "cold tumors".

By simultaneously targeting ILT2, ILT4, and CSF1R, AK150 enables synergistic anti-tumor activity through coordinated modulation of both innate and adaptive immune systems. It holds high therapeutic potential not only for hot tumors but also for converting "cold tumors" into "hot tumors", thereby fundamentally improving tumor responsiveness to immunotherapy.

CSF1R, ILT2, and ILT4 each play important immunomodulatory roles in the tumor microenvironment, together constructing a complex immunosuppressive network. The synergistic blockade of these three targets can relieve immune suppression at multiple levels.  AK150 depletes immunosuppressive myeloid cells by CSF1R blockade, while simultaneously releasing the "molecular brakes" on remaining myeloid populations by ILT2 and ILT4 blockade. Meanwhile, ILT2 blockade by AK150 also has the potential to activate CD8+ T cells and Natural Killer (NK) cells, enhancing the anti-tumor immune response. This innovative design holds promise for addressing key challenges in solid tumor drug development.