BioAtla, Inc., a global clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of Conditionally Active Biologic (CAB) antibody therapeutics, announced that it has entered into a clinical collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb to investigate BioAtla’s two lead CAB-ADC candidates, BA3011 and BA3021, in combination with Bristol Myers Squibb’s anti-PD-1 therapy Opdivo® (nivolumab).
Under the terms of the agreement, BioAtla and Bristol Myers Squibb will collaborate on clinical trials of separate combination therapies using two of BioAtla’s Conditionally Active Biologic Antibody Drug Conjugates, BA3011 and BA3021, each in combination with Opdvio. BioAtla will serve as the study sponsor and will be responsible for costs associated with the trial execution. Bristol Myers Squibb will provide Opdivo clinical drug supply for the study.
BA3011 (CAB-AXL-ADC) and BA3021 (CAB-ROR2-ADC) are CAB antibody drug conjugates that target receptor tyrosine kinase AXL and ROR2, respectively. AXL and ROR2 are important targets as they are expressed in many solid tumors with higher frequency of expression observed in tumors previously treated with anti-PD-1 therapy. This, coupled with the therapeutic index advantages provided by BioAtla’s proprietary CAB technology, lends strong rationale for investigating BA3011 and BA3021 in combination with Opdivo.
“BioAtla is very pleased to enter into this collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb. Identification of optimal combination regimens holds significant promise for cancer patients, and we look forward to expanding investigation of our CAB-ADCs in combination with Opdivo,” stated Jay M. Short, Ph.D., Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of BioAtla, Inc.
“This collaboration supports our strategy to aggressively drive development of therapeutics in areas of high unmet medical need and underscores the potential broad applicability of our CABADCs to provide benefit to many patients across a wide range of tumor types,” added Scott Smith, President of BioAtla.