Vincerx Pharma to merge with private antibody-drug conjugate company Oqory

Oqory’s lead candidate has demonstrated promising clinical results in treating solid tumors, with a differentiated safety profile compared to other TROP2 ADCs.

Dec. 30, 2024

2 min read

Vincerx Pharma announced a proposed merger with privately held antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) company Oqory, whose lead candidate — OQY-3258 — is being evaluated in two Phase 3 studies.

Under the terms of the proposed merger, Oqory's equity holders will own approximately 95% of the combined company, while Vincerx’s equity holders will retain about 5%. A condition for the closing of the merger is the completion of a $20 million equity offering and a minimum equity value of $13.66 million for existing Vincerx shareholders.

As part of a workforce reduction, Vincerx CEO Ahmed Hamdy has stepped down but will remain as chairman. Vincerx’s stock jumped more than 100% in Monday morning trading.

Oqory’s pipeline includes several ADC programs including two candidates currently in clinical development and several next-generation ADCs in preclinical stages. However, lead candidate OQY-3258 has shown promising efficacy results in treating solid tumors, with a favorable safety profile compared to other TROP2 ADCs in Phase 3 development.

OQY-3258 is being evaluated in a Phase 3 study as first-line treatment in patients with unresectable recurrent or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, as well as a Phase 3 study in patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic HR+/HER2- breast cancer.

“Among approximately 150 treated patients, results include an 83% overall response rate and 100% disease control rate in first-line triple-negative breast cancer,” Raquel Izumi, acting CEO of Vincerx, said in a statement. “Unlike other TROP2 ADCs in Phase 3, no cases of interstitial lung disease or Grade 3 and above stomatitis have been reported.”

For its part, Vincerx’s pipeline includes a next-generation ADC currently in Phase 1, a small molecule drug conjugate which completed a Phase 1 trial, a CDK9 inhibitor which completed a Phase 1 monotherapy study, as well as a preclinical ADC and a next-generation bioconjugation platform.

Big Pharma companies continue to make major manufacturing investments in the red-hot ADC space. In May, AstraZeneca revealed its plans to build a $1.5 billion manufacturing facility in Singapore dedicated to ADCs. Earlier this month, Daiichi Sankyo announced it is building a new $152 million ADC manufacturing facility in Shanghai as part of its long-term commitment in China.

While the ADC manufacturing sector offers the potential to leverage significant opportunities for cancer treatment, data analytics firm GlobalData contends that the market faces complex challenges.