SMMT Inks Deal With AZN-Daiichi to Study Ivonescimab + Datroway Combos
Summit Therapeutics SMMT is expanding the development of its sole investigational drug, ivonescimab, through a new clinical collaboration with AstraZeneca AZN and its Japan-based partner Daiichi Sankyo.
Under the agreement, ivonescimab will be evaluated in combination with AZN/ Daiichi’s blockbuster antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), Datroway (datopotamab deruxtecan) across multiple solid tumors, including breast and lung cancers.
The collaboration is expected to initially focus on a phase III study in first-line triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), expanding ivonescimab's development into a new tumor type. Per the agreement, each company will provide its respective drug, while AstraZeneca or Daiichi will sponsor the planned studies. The companies will share study costs while retaining the development and commercial rights to their own therapies.
The latest Datroway collaboration builds on the larger deal between AstraZeneca and Summit announced in the last week. Under the agreement, AstraZeneca agreed to invest $2 billion in the company to accelerate development of ivonescimab. The companies will evaluate ivonescimab with AstraZeneca’s investigational Claudin-18.2-targeted ADC, sonesitatug vedotin (Sone-Ve), in gastrointestinal cancers, along with other AstraZeneca cancer medicines and ADCs.
Year to date, shares of SMMT have declined 4.2% compared with the industry’s 5.4% fall.
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Year to date, AZN’s shares have lost 13.8% against the industry’s 5% growth.
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Ivonescimab-Combination Strategy Boosts SMMT’s Growth Potential
Summit is building a broad development strategy around ivonescimab. It is an investigational PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody designed to block PD-1, which helps activate the immune system against cancer, while also blocking VEGF, a protein involved in tumor blood-vessel growth. This dual mechanism is intended to provide both immune-system activation and anti-angiogenic activity in a single drug. Summit’s Chinese partner, Akeso, originally developed the drug, with Summit holding exclusive development and commercialization rights across major markets outside China.
An FDA filing is under review seeking approval for ivonescimab plus chemotherapy in patients with EGFR-mutated, locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous NSCLC who had progressed following EGFR-TKI treatment. A final decision is expected by Nov. 14, 2026. Akeso retains the rights to market the drug in China, where it is currently approved to treat multiple non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) indications.
Summit is pursuing a broad global development program for ivonescimab. It is advancing the drug across multiple phase III studies — HARMONi-3 in first-line metastatic NSCLC, HARMONi-7 in first-line metastatic PD-L1 high (≥50%) NSCLC and HARMONi-GI3 in first-line metastatic colorectal cancer. Recently, the company initiated the phase II/III HARMONi-GU1 study, evaluating ivonescimab plus Pfizer’s PFE/Astellas’ Padcev as first-line treatment for advanced urothelial or bladder cancer.
Meanwhile, Datroway is a TROP2-targeted ADC jointly developed and commercialized by Daiichi and AstraZeneca under their global collaboration, which began in 2020. It delivers a cancer-killing payload directly to tumor cells expressing TROP2 protein. Datroway is already approved in multiple countries for certain patients with TNBC, HR-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer and EGFR-mutated NSCLC. The drug has a broad clinical development program with more than 20 studies across lung, breast and urothelial cancers.
The partnership with AstraZeneca and Daiichi could expand Summit's reach and create additional clinical and commercial ooportunities for ivonescimab.
SMMT’s Zacks Rank
Summit currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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