Clinical-stage oncology therapeutics company Whitehawk Therapeutics Inc (Nasdaq:WHWK) announced on Thursday that it has signed a new option agreement with Hangzhou DAC for access to CPT113 for use in up to five additional antibody drug conjugate (ADC) programmes.

Whitehawk's ADC platform uses CPT113 as the core linker-payload technology. The technology adds its own proprietary Carbon Bridge Cysteine Re-pairing (CBCR) bioconjugation process to support improved stability and therapeutic index.

Under the option agreement, Whitehawk will select targets and source antibodies, while retaining global rights and full programme control for the new ADC programmes. Whitehawk anticipates submitting Investigational New Drug (IND) applications for multiple new programmes over the next 12-24 months.

Dave Lennon, PhD, president and CEO of Whitehawk Therapeutics, said: "This option agreement reflects our conviction in CPT113 as the core linker-payload foundation of our ADC platform, supported both by increasing external validation and by what we are seeing in our own existing programs. By layering on our proprietary CBCR bioconjugation process, we believe we further enhance ADC stability to deliver potential best-in-class ADCs. With HWK-007 and HWK-016 enrolling, and an IND for HWK-206 anticipated mid-year, we are building execution momentum across our portfolio. We now have the opportunity to further scale our pipeline and advance novel ADC programmes toward the clinic in the next 12-24 months."