ADC Therapeutics and Freenome enter biomarker collaboration

Under the biomarker development collaboration, ADC Therapeutics SA (Lausanne) will employ Freenome's multiomics platform to identify biomarkers that correlate with clinical response to ADCT-402 (loncastuximab tesirine), an antibody-pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) cojugate targeting CD19 expressed on human B cells in order to eliminate B cell malignacies.

Freenome has pioneered a comprehensive multiomics platform for early cancer detection through a routine blood draw. By using multiple inputs rather than looking for just genetic material coming off of tumours, the company says that its liquid biopsy tests can detect cancer earlier than traditional tests that are more invasive and can miss early signs of the disease. ADC Therapeutics is currently evaluating ADCT-402 in a pivotal Phase II clinical trial in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Freenome's platform will characterize tumour heterogeneity and systemic immune response to identify DNA, RNA and protein signatures from blood of DLBCL patients participating in ADC Therapeutics' pivotal Phase II clinical trial.

 "Our platform can help biopharma partners refine biomarker development and potentially de-risk and accelerate drug development by characterizing patients likely to respond to therapy," said Gabe Otte, Chief Executive Officer of Freenome.

According to Patrick van Berkel, Senior Vice President of Research and Development at ADC Therapeutics, ADCT-402 has been demonstrating single-agent clinical activity in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the ongoing pivotal Phase II trial.

Financial terms of the collaboration were not disclosed.