The partnership will focus on Crescent’s PD-1/VEGF inhibitor CR-001 and Kelun-Biotech’s SKB105, both of which the companies plan to push into Phase I/II development for solid tumors early next year.
Massachusetts-based Crescent Biopharma is joining with China’s Sichuan Kelun-Biotech to develop PD-1/VEGF bispecific and antibody-drug conjugate combinations in a partnership worth as much as $1.25 billion.
Each company will bring a therapy to the collaboration. Crescent’s CR-001 is a PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody, while Kelun’s SKB105 is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting the integrin beta-6, a protein commonly overexpressed in malignancies.
Under the terms of the agreement, announced Thursday, Crescent will front $80 million and promise milestone payments reaching $1.25 billion for rights to SKB105 outside the Greater China region. Kelun will also be eligible to receive royalties on sales of the drug. Meanwhile, the Chinese company will hand Crescent $20 million upfront, as well as pledge up to $30 million in milestones, plus royalties on CR-001 sales inside China.
The partners will test both molecules as monotherapies or in combination with each other for solid tumors, the companies said on Thursday. Both candidates are set to enter Phase I/II development in the first quarter of 2026.
PD-1/VEGF bispecifics like CR-001 have garnered much attention over the past year, after Summit Therapeutics and Akeso’s ivonescimab in September 2024 claimed victory over Merck’s Keytruda—a cornerstone cancer therapy—in a late-stage study of non-small cell lung cancer. Excitement over ivonescimab has since mellowed, tempered by concerns that its data, generated largely in China, won’t be applicable to the U.S. patient pool.
Still, the modality has proven to be an attractive area of investment. Merck partnered with Shanghai-based LaNova Medicines in November 2024 to enter the ring. The pharma paid $588 million upfront and bet $2.7 billion in milestones for LaNova’s LM-299, in early development for solid tumors.
Pfizer inked a licensing deal with 3SBio for $1.25 billion upfront and up to $4.8 billion in milestones, gaining access to the Chinese biotech’s bispecific antibody SSGJ-707. A month later, Bristol Myers Squibb put roughly $11 billion on the line to collaborate on BioNTech’s BNT-327.
The other half of Thursday’s deal—Kelun-Biotech’s SKB105—also belongs to an emerging, though more established, class of cancer therapies. Fewer than 20 ADCs have been approved by the FDA, giving drugmakers enough room to join the field.
In October, Takeda made an $11.4-billion play with China’s Innovent, gaining co-development rights to two ADCs for a variety of cancers. Days earlier, Roche also looked Eastward and put down more than $1.5 billion for Hansoh Pharmaceutical’s ADC for colorectal cancer.
