(Yicai) Aug. 28 -- Shares of Duality Biotherapeutics rose after it said it has agreed to co‑develop next‑generation antibody‑drug conjugates for multiple oncology indications with Genentech, a subsidiary of Switzerland's Roche, based on the Chinese innovative drugmaker's proprietary DUPAC payload platform, in a deal worth more than USD1 billion.

Duality [HKG: 9606] closed 2 percent higher at HKD199.50 (USD25.46) a share in Hong Kong today, after jumping by as much as 6.3 percent at one point.

Duality will lead drug discovery and early-phase global clinical development for partnered programs, the Suzhou‑based company said in a stock exchange filing today, citing a deal inked yesterday. Genentech will obtain the exclusive worldwide commercial license for ADC candidates produced under the collaboration, taking over and bearing all subsequent clinical development responsibilities and future commercialization work after the completion of Phase 1a clinical trials, it added.

Under the deal, Duality will receive an upfront payment of USD45 million, as well as USD1 billion in potential milestone payments tied to development and tiered royalties based on net sales, it pointed out.

DUPAC is one of Duality's four proprietary ADC payload platforms, with multiple payloads built on it featuring unique anti‑tumor mechanisms.

ADC drugs are a novel class of targeted therapeutics, produced by conjugating bioactive small‑molecule drugs to monoclonal antibodies via chemical linkers. By using specific antibodies as carriers, ADCs can deliver cytotoxic small‑molecule drugs precisely to tumor cells, improving the therapeutic efficacy while reducing toxicity to healthy tissues.

Compared with conventional chemotherapy, ADC drugs may reduce toxic side effects and are therefore one of the world's most popular research and development directions for innovative oncology drugs despite their high technical barriers. Multiple Chinese biotech firms have built in‑house ADC development platforms and license technologies and product pipelines to overseas peers.

In 2023, Duality entered into ADC platform licensing or new drug development partnerships with BioNTech, BeOne Medicines, and Adcendo.

In the BioNTech and BeOne Medicines deals, Duality conducted early‑phase development work, while the partners took charge of later‑stage clinical development and commercialization. Its agreement with Adcendo is a platform-technology license, under which the Danish firm oversees the drug development activities independently.

Editor: Martin Kadiev