Northway Biotech to manufacture Kaida’s biologic candidate for Phase 1 trial

Northway Biotech has entered into a manufacturing agreement with Kaida BioPharma to produce the clinical drug substance for KAD101, Kaida’s lead biologic candidate targeting hormone-driven cancers.

The agreement supports Kaida’s plans to launch a Phase 1 clinical trial for the therapy, which is initially being developed for ovarian cancer.

Under the terms of the deal, Northway will develop and qualify analytical methods, optimize the formulation, scale up production, and manufacture a cGMP batch of KAD101 to support clinical studies. The work will be conducted at Northway’s U.S. site in Waltham, Massachusetts. The company, which offers end-to-end biologics manufacturing services, will also provide process development support as Kaida moves closer to its first-in-human trial.

KAD101 is a prolactin receptor antagonist designed to block a pathway that contributes to tumor growth in certain gynecologic cancers. The molecule is based on G129R, a biologic that demonstrated tumor shrinkage and a favorable safety profile in an earlier human study. Kaida has reformulated G129R as a longer-acting injectable therapy, now known as KAD101, and is preparing for clinical testing expected to begin in late 2026 or early 2027.

In addition to KAD101, Kaida is developing a second candidate, KAD102, which is a pure antagonist version of the original molecule being studied for the treatment of uterine cancer. The company’s drug development efforts focus on blocking the prolactin/prolactin receptor axis, which research suggests plays a key role in driving cancer cell growth in hormone-responsive tumors.