Under the agreement, Innovent will supply sintilimab for the collaborated clinical trial. Xuanzhu Biopharma will conduct a Phase 1b clinical study to evaluate the anti-tumor activity and safety of the combination therapy of sintilimab with KM-501 in Chinese patients with advanced solid tumors.

TYVYT® (sintilimab injection) is an innovative PD-1 inhibitor co-developed by Innovent and Eli Lilly and Company in China. It has been approved and included in the national reimbursement drug list (NRDL) for seven indications. It is also the only PD-1 inhibitor for the first-line treatment of five high-incidence cancer types in the NRDL.

KM-501 is designed by Mebs-Ig (antibody-edited bispecific antibody) platform with independent intellectual property rights to target dual-antibody ADC with two different domains of HER2. It is suitable for the treatment of locally advanced/metastatic solid tumors with HER2 positive / expression, amplification or mutation, including related advanced tumors with low HER2 expression. The IND was approved by the NMPA in March this year, and it is currently in the phase I dose escalation study. Pre-clinical studies showed that KM-501 was better than control-drugs DS-8201 and Herceptin in terms of endocytosis rate, internalization rate and in vitro inhibitory activity; KM-501 was better than DS-8201 in tumor models with high and low expression of HER2.

Combining a PD-1 inhibitor and an ADC candidate represents a new direction for the development of cancer therapy in terms of potentially improving the effect of immunotherapy and overcoming potential drug resistance. The PD-1 immunotherapy can release the suppressed state of T cells while the ADC drug can achieve the anti-tumor killing effect through cytotoxic payload, thus bringing in synergistic tumor inhibition effect.

Dr. Hui Zhou, Senior Vice President of Innovent, stated: "We are pleased to collaborate with Xuanzhu Biopharma to explore the synergistic anti-tumor effects of the combination therapy of sintilimab and a novel ADC candidate. The leading position and clinical value of sintilimab as a backbone immunotherapy are further strengthened. In light of the synergistic mechanism of two novel medicines, we hope to bring new treatment options for cancer patients in the future. "

Dr. Xiaodong Zhu, General Manager of Xuanzhu Bio, stated: " The collaboration with Innovent is an important milestone for KM-501 in the development and commercialization strategy. We look forward to new opportunities for KM-501 in combo with sintilimab so as to potentially improve patient benefit and overcome tumor resistance."