World Cancer Day Focus: AACR Annual Meeting Leads Global New Cancer Drug Trends, Domestic Drugs Lead the Trend

On April 4, 2024, A Cancer Journal for Clinicians (CA), the top journal with the No. 1 impact factor, released the report "Global Cancer Statistics 2022: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Rates of 36 Cancer in 185 Countries".  The report points out that there will be nearly 20 million new cancer cases worldwide in 2022, and the number of cancer deaths will be 9.7 million.  These data indicate that approximately one in five men or women will develop cancer in their lifetime, and one in 9 men and one in 12 women may die from cancer.  Predictions show that by 2050, new cancer cases worldwide may climb to 35 million, highlighting the severe challenges facing cancer treatment.

April 17 is World Cancer Day and April 15-21 is National Cancer Prevention and Treatment Awareness Week.  These special days aim to draw global public attention to cancer, a serious public health issue, and to promote progress in cancer prevention and treatment.  The just-concluded 115th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is undoubtedly a grand event in the field of cancer research.  It provides a platform for global oncology scientists to communicate and collaborate, and promotes in-depth exploration and continuous innovation in oncology drug research and development.

At the AACR annual meeting, many top cancer research experts shared the latest scientific and medical research results.  These results not only involve research progress on new targets, but also include the development of new drugs.  It is worth mentioning that statistics from Huachuang Securities show that at this year’s AACR annual meeting, the number of abstracts from China pharmaceutical companies reached approximately 700, almost twice as many as in 2021.  This significant growth not only demonstrates the vigorous development momentum of China's oncology research field, but also reflects the strength and potential of China pharmaceutical companies in the research and development of new oncology drugs.

Taking Medicilon as an example, after 20 years of profound accumulation and unremitting exploration, its pharmacodynamic department has continued to innovate on the road of tumor drug research and development, and established a complete pharmacodynamic evaluation system which covering approximately 400 tumor drug efficacy evaluation models, Including PDX model, homogeneous tumor transplantation model, xenogeneic tumor transplantation model and humanized tumor transplantation model.  These models not only provide strong technical support for the Medicilon R&D team, but also enable a variety of ADCs, antibodies, cell therapies, and small molecule targeted drugs such as PROTAC and molecular glue to be successfully approved for clinical use.  This has brought revolutionary breakthroughs to the field of tumor treatment.

01. China’s ADC drug research and development attracts global attention, and Medicilon helped 23 ADCs obtain clinical approval

Among many fields, the turmoil of ADC drugs is particularly eye-catching.  In 2024, China's ADC drugs will rise strongly and become the focus of attention of the international pharmaceutical industry.  In early April, Danish pharmaceutical company Genmab acquired ProfoundBio in an all-cash transaction of US$1.8 billion (approximately RMB 13 billion).  This acquisition not only broke the record for Chinese Biotech acquisitions, but also demonstrated the research and development strength and market value of China's ADC drugs.

At the 2024 AACR Annual Meeting, Chinese ADC drugs will once again shine on the global stage.  At this event, a total of 58 Chinese ADC pipelines under development were unveiled.  Among them, a large number of new target ADCs and high-profile dual-antibody ADCs became the highlights of this annual meeting, covering targets including TROP2, EGFR, HER3, cMet, PTK-7, B7-H3, MUC1, and 5T4.  Research progress on these targets provides new possibilities for cancer treatment.

Top 20 popular targets for ADC drugs

What is also eye-catching is that the Medicilon antibody drug conjugate (ADC) R&D service platform also demonstrated its strong strength at this annual meeting.  The platform can provide clients with services such as ADC Payloads synthesis, ADC drug conjugation, ADC pharmacodynamics evaluation, ADC pharmacokinetics evaluation, and ADC safety evaluation.  As of the end of 2023, Medicilon has successfully helped 23 ADC drugs obtain clinical approval, and has 20+ ADC projects under development. Learn more about Medicilon's ADC R&D Service Platform.

ADC drugs powered by Medicilon (partial)

02. Small molecule targeted drugs continue to lead the way, and Medicilon’s Chemistry Department’s cutting-edge R&D platform supports innovation

Although new technologies are emerging one after another, small molecule drugs still occupy half of the field of anti-tumor drugs due to their many advantages such as simple synthesis and convenient administration.  At this annual meeting, many cutting-edge targets became hot topics of discussion, including KRAS/G12D (involving 10 drugs), WRN (involving 5 drugs), PARP1/PARP7 (involving 5 drugs), HPK1 (involving 5 drugs), 4 drugs) as well as EGFR, USP1, Polθ, KIF18A, TEAD, etc.

At the same time, research progress on multiple anti-tumor small molecule inhibitors has also been disclosed.  Companies such as Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, Hansoh Pharmaceuticals, Shouyao Holdings, Ascentage Pharma, Allist Pharma, Hinova Pharma and Laekna have released their research progress on small molecule inhibitors.  These are mostly novel structural inhibitor molecules targeting known targets.  Some of them have successfully entered the Phase II clinical stage, showing broad application prospects.

In the field of small molecule drugs, Medicilon's Chemistry Department has built a variety of cutting-edge drug research and development platforms such as PROTAC, LYTAC, SiRNA and LNP, providing more high-quality and professional services to many drug research and development companies. 

Small molecule targeted drugs powered by Medicilon (partial)

In the field of protein degradation agents (such as PROTAC, molecular glue), Medicilon can provide services including design and synthesis, in vitro screening, in vivo animal efficacy testing and PK/PD research, pharmaceutical analysis, pharmacokinetic research and safety evaluation.  As of the end of June 2023, Medicilon has successfully helped 5 PROTAC drugs obtain clinical approval, and there are more than 20 PROTAC projects under development. Learn more about Medicilon's PROTAC R&D Service Platform.

Protein degradation agent powered by Medicilon (partial)

03. Antibody research and development highlights frequently emerge, Medicilon helps 32 antibodies enter clinical trials

In addition, antibodies are still one of the hot spots in the field of tumor research.  At the AACR conference, many companies released research data on monoclonal antibodies and double antibodies, covering types including tumor targeting and immune escape.  Companies such as Akeso, BeiGene, Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, Innovent Bio, Mabwell Bioscience, and RemeGen have all announced research results on monoclonal antibodies and double antibodies, covering tumor immunity (such as PD1, TIGIT, LAG-3, CTLA4) and tumor targeting (such as CEACAM3, EGFR, B7H3).  Among them, research on some targets has shown encouraging clinical and preclinical data, providing new directions for future drug research and development.

In the field of antibodies, Medicilon can provide full-process services, including drug discovery, CMC research services, and comprehensive preclinical research services that comply with GLP regulations (pharmacodynamic research, pharmacokinetic evaluation and safety evaluation).  As of the end of 2023, Medicilon has successfully helped 32 antibody drugs obtain clinical approval, and there are numerous antibody projects under development. Learn more about Medicilon's Antibody R&D Service Platform.

Antibody drugs powered by Medicilon (partial)

04. Cellular immunotherapy breaks through the treatment of solid tumors, and Medicilon’s one-stop R&D platform leads innovation

Cellular immunotherapy, as a medical field that has attracted much attention in recent years, has shown broad application prospects in the treatment of solid tumors in China.  Currently, Chinese immune cell therapies for solid tumors are mainly concentrated in the preclinical and early clinical stages, and no varieties have yet officially entered the stage of application for marketing.  In the pipeline layout of immune cell therapy, TCR-T, CAR-T and CAR-M all account for more than 50%, while the pipelines of TIL and CAR-NK account for nearly 40%, showing a diversified research and development trend.

In terms of target selection, Chinese companies’ solid tumor immune cell therapy mainly focuses on key targets such as MSLN, CLDN-18.2 and GPC3, which are closely related to the occurrence and development of various solid tumors.  In contrast, the solid tumor immune cell therapy targets of overseas companies mainly focus on HER2, MSLN and GPC3.

As an innovation leader, Medicilon has established a one-stop research platform for the preclinical research and development of cellular immunotherapy drugs, covering a variety of therapies including CAR-T, TCR-T, CAR-NK and TIL cells.  Immunotherapy methods have successfully helped Joint Biosciences' CAR-raNK cell therapy obtain clinical approval, effectively promoting the development of cellular immunotherapy drugs. Learn more about Medicilon's Cellular Immunotherapies R&D Service Platform.

Looking to the future, with the rapid advancement of biopharmaceutical technology, the field of tumor treatment will surely set off an unprecedented wave of innovation and breakthroughs.  In this magnificent journey, Medicilon will continue to be innovation-driven and quality-first, and will unswervingly empower the research and development and innovation of new drugs, providing more comprehensive and in-depth support to partners, assisting global oncology drug research and development, and helping patients have more and better treatment options!