ABL Bio Receives KRW 7.8 Billion Milestone Payment for 'ABL001'

Clinical Phase 1b Completion Milestone
$6 Million... 환차익 Also 1.6 Billion KRW

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] ABL Bio announced on the 27th that it will receive a milestone payment of $6 million (approximately 7.8 billion KRW) from Compass Therapeutics following the completion of the Phase 1b clinical trial of the bispecific antibody anticancer drug 'ABL001'.

ABL Bio issued an invoice related to this to Compass on the same day and plans to receive the amount within 45 days. In particular, due to the sharp rise in the current exchange rate compared to the exchange rate at the time of the technology export contract in November 2018, it also gained a foreign exchange profit of about 1.6 billion KRW.

ABL001 is a bispecific antibody that acts on VEGF-A and DLL4 to inhibit neovascularization within cancer tissues. Compass and Handok, which holds rights in Korea, are collaborating to conduct a multinational Phase 2 clinical trial targeting cholangiocarcinoma patients in Korea and the United States. In China, Elpiscience is conducting Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials targeting patients with advanced colorectal cancer.

ABL001 was licensed out to TRIGR Therapeutics in 2018. The contract was worth a total of $595 million, including an upfront payment of $5 million. Exclusive rights were granted for anticancer treatment excluding Korea, and for ocular treatment excluding Korea and Japan. Subsequently, last year, Compass, a Nasdaq-listed company, acquired TRIGR, thereby obtaining the rights to ABL001 (CTX-009). Among these, the rights in China were transferred again to Elpiscience.

This milestone payment is based on the results of the Phase 1b clinical trial completed by ABL Bio in March. The Phase 2 clinical trial in the United States has received Investigational New Drug (IND) approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the first patient dosing is expected to take place within the third quarter of this year.

Lee Sang-hoon, CEO of ABL Bio, said, “With the completion of the Phase 1b trial of ABL001 and the smooth progress of Phase 2 trials in Korea and the U.S., we have secured an additional $6 million in funding. We will continue to enhance financial stability through ongoing technology transfers and lay the foundation for advancing as a global bio company.”