AstraZeneca announced an equity investment and clinical collaboration with Summit Therapeutics to advance ADC combinations in cancer

CAR-T Digest - August 2020

Weekly Digest - October 2026

28 September 2026: AstraZeneca announced an equity investment and clinical collaboration with Summit Therapeutics to advance ADC combinations in cancer

AstraZeneca announced a US$2 billion strategic equity investment in Summit Therapeutics to accelerate development of Ivonescimab, a PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody, in combination with AstraZeneca’s ADC portfolio across multiple tumor types
As part of the collaboration, AstraZeneca and Summit will initially evaluate Sonesitatug vedotin, a Claudin18.2-directed ADC, in combination with Ivonescimab in gastrointestinal cancers, with clinical trials planned to begin imminently; the companies will jointly fund the trials while retaining rights to their respective medicines
The collaboration is aimed at addressing the need for more effective combination approaches in advanced cancers by pairing targeted cytotoxic delivery with simultaneous PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade and VEGF inhibition, with Ivonescimab already being evaluated across multiple phase 3 tumor settings
Sone-Ve is a CLDN18.2-directed ADC comprising an anti-CLDN18.2 monoclonal antibody linked through a protease-degradable linker to the microtubule inhibitor MMAE, while ivonescimab combines PD-1 blockade with VEGF inhibition in a single bispecific antibody
Strategically, the investment strengthens AstraZeneca’s strategy of positioning ADCs as combination backbones with next-generation immunotherapies, while the parties’ MOU outlines a broader global development programme pairing Ivonescimab with additional AstraZeneca cancer medicines, including other ADCs