Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical-stage oncology company focused on developing next-generation radiopharmaceuticals as precision medicines, announced nomination of the first targeted alpha therapy (TAT) candidate under the Company’s collaboration agreement with AstraZeneca. Both companies will jointly develop through a Phase 1 study the novel TAT which utilizes Fusion’s Fast-Clear™ linker technology to radiolabel an AstraZeneca-owned bispecific antibody with the alpha-emitting isotope, actinium-225.
“Fusion is at the forefront developing a new wave of cancer therapies using alpha-emitting medical isotopes and various targeting vehicles,” said John Valliant, Ph.D. “One of the pillars of our platform is to create next-generation immunoconjugates, and we are excited to be working with AstraZeneca to pursue a novel radioimmunoconjugate for oncology. We had strong alignment among our joint development committee to move this novel TAT forward into a planned Phase 1 study and we look forward to sharing more information as we approach the investigational new drug application (IND) filing.”
Under the terms of the previously announced collaboration agreement, Fusion will be operationally responsible for preclinical development through first-in-human studies, while AstraZeneca will be responsible for subsequent clinical development. The companies will share costs equally through clinical development. IND enabling studies are ongoing.
Fusion Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage oncology company focused on developing next-generation radiopharmaceuticals as precision medicines. Employing a proprietary Fast-Clear™ linker technology, Fusion connects alpha particle emitting isotopes to various targeting molecules in order to selectively deliver the alpha emitting payloads to tumors.
Fusion’s lead program, FPI-1434 targeting insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor, is currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial. The pipeline includes FPI-1966 targeting the fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 and FPI-2059, a small molecule recently acquired from Ipsen, targeting neurotensin receptor 1.
In addition to a robust proprietary pipeline, Fusion has a collaboration with AstraZeneca to jointly develop up to three novel targeted alpha therapies (TATs) and explore up to five combination programs between Fusion’s TATs and AstraZeneca’s DNA Damage Response Inhibitors (DDRis) and Immuno-Oncology (IO) agents.