While AstraZeneca has discontinued work on four assets—including one in asthma and another in acromegaly—the pharma has also elected to take forward a bispecific antibody that destroys the EGFR protein.
AstraZeneca is using the first-quarter earnings season as an opportunity to reshape its pipeline, electing to end the development of an investigational therapy for asthma while also taking on a bispecific antibody for cancer.
AstraZeneca will no longer be putting money behind atuliflapon, an oral inhibitor of the FLAP protein that was in a Phase 2 study for patients with moderate to severe asthma. The decision to abandon atuliflapon was “due to efficacy,” according to a company presentation on Wednesday released alongside AstraZeneca’s Q1 earnings report.
Had the asset not been scrapped, the mid-stage study of atuliflapon was scheduled to complete in July.
Alongside atuliflapon, AstraZeneca also discontinued three other programs: one for advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma, a second for dyslipidemia and the last for acromegaly. All three cuts were driven by “strategic portfolio prioritization,” according to the pharma’s company presentation.
As AstraZeneca makes cuts to certain parts of its pipeline, it grows elsewhere. Also on Wednesday, the company exercised its license option with Pinetree Therapeutics, gaining the exclusive global rights to advance and market a potentially first-in-class anti-EGFR bispecific antibody.
The asset, dubbed PTX-299, is designed to avert treatment resistance that arises with other EGFR-targeting therapies. The molecule doesn’t merely block EGFR activity—a key driver of cancer—but also elicits the selective destruction of these proteins. This targeted degradation mechanism could potentially overcome resistance pathways, Pinetree said in its news release.
Wednesday’s license option triggers a $25 million milestone payment to Pinetree. The companies first partnered in July 2024 for $45 million upfront and the potential of up to $500 million in milestones. Pinetree is also entitled to tiered royalties on net global sales.
By exercising the license option, AstraZeneca will now assume full responsibility for all R&D, regulatory and commercialization activities for PTX-299. It is currently unclear what specific cancer types the pharma aims to address.
AstraZeneca also reported Q1 earnings results on Wednesday, touting sales of $15.3 billion—cleanly surpassing the $14.6 consensus estimate. The pharma’s 8% year-on-year growth was driven largely by its cancer and rare disease businesses, which surged 16% and 15%, respectively. On the R&D front, AstraZeneca likewise secured key wins during the quarter, including for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease drug tozorakimab and hypophosphatasia hopeful efzimfotase alfa.
Taken together, the encouraging clinical and commercial Q1 performance has helped build AstraZeneca’s confidence in meeting its 2030 revenue target of $80 billion.
