Shares of clinical-stage company Summit Therapeutics SMMT rose nearly 9% on Thursday following a report issued by Bloomberg, which stated that pharma giant AstraZeneca AZN is in discussions with the company for a potential licensing deal.
Per the article, AstraZeneca is considering a deal worth up to $15 billion for Summit Therapeutics’ ivonescimab — an experimental, first-in-class, bispecific antibody that targets two proteins: PD-1 and VEGF. The potential transaction includes “a several billion dollars” in upfront payment and the remainder as milestone payments.
While AstraZeneca declined to comment on the report and Summit has yet to respond, Bloomberg noted that the talks are still ongoing. However, the article also cautioned investors that the deal may ultimately “fall apart” or result in Summit choosing a different partner.
Florida-based Summit Therapeutics came into the investor spotlight last year after reporting encouraging results from the HARMONi-2 study, whichevaluated ivonescimab against Merck’s MRK blockbuster PD-1 inhibitor, Keytruda, in patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors have positive PD-L1 expression. Treatment with the drug cut the risk of disease progression or death by nearly half compared with Merck’s Keytruda. Earlier this year, the company also reported positive results from the late-stage HARMONi-6 study, which showed that ivonescimab outperformed BeiGene’s PD-1 inhibitor Tevimbra in certain NSCLC patients.
Ivonescimab is being developed in collaboration with China-based Akeso, the drug's original developer. Summit acquired an exclusive license from Akeso in 2022 to develop and market the drug across various territories, including the United States and Europe.
SMMT Share Price Performance
Year to date, the stock has gained 38% compared with the industry’s 4% growth.
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What’s Driving AstraZeneca’s Reported Interest in Summit?
Developing bispecific antibodies that target both PD-1 and VEGF proteins has lately emerged as a lucrative area in cancer treatment — a trend started by Summit Therapeutics. Per SMMT, ivonescimab is the first drug to achieve a statistically significant improvement over PD-(L)1 inhibitors like Keytruda and Tevimbra — which are considered the current standard of care across several NSCLC indications — in head-to-head settings.
AstraZeneca is a dominant player in the oncology space, marketing several blockbuster drugs like Tagrisso, Lynparza, Imfinzi and Calquence. The idea behind the deal appears clear — AZN seems to be pursuing a first-mover advantage. Currently, there are no approved bispecific antibodies that target both PD-1 and VEGF proteins. If the licensing deal goes through, AstraZeneca would not only become a new entrant in the space but would also leapfrog peers like Merck and Pfizer, both of which are developing assets in this space through recently signed licensing deals.
The rumored Summit-AstraZeneca deal would follow a move by Bristol Myers BMY, which recently signed a similar licensing deal worth $11 billion with BioNTech. Per the deal terms, Bristol Myers and BioNTech will jointly develop and market BNT327, an investigational bispecific antibody targeting PD-L1 and VEGF, along with profits on an equal basis. The deal highlights Bristol Myers’ efforts to access a promising oncology candidate across multiple tumor types and aligns with its broader strategy to offset revenue declines from legacy brands.
Summit Therapeutics PLC Price
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SMMT’s Zacks Rank
Summit currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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