AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/NYSE: AZN) and Daiichi Sankyo have entered into a clinical collaboration agreement with Summit Therapeutics to evaluate Datroway (datopotamab deruxtecan), a TROP2-directed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), in combination with ivonescimab across multiple tumor types including lung and breast cancers. Each company will contribute its own medicine to the planned trials and share trial costs while retaining development and commercial rights to its respective drug.
Datroway is a TROP2-directed DXd ADC discovered by Daiichi Sankyo and jointly developed and commercialized with AstraZeneca globally, except in Japan where Daiichi Sankyo retains exclusive rights. Ivonescimab is a PD-1×VEGF bispecific antibody developed by China's Akeso, which licensed Summit Therapeutics exclusive rights in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. The drug is approved for certain non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients in China, while a Biologics License Application for EGFR-mutated NSCLC is under review by the US FDA.
The collaboration will begin with a Phase III trial in first-line triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), with additional studies planned in lung cancer and other tumor types. Datroway is already approved in more than 30 countries and regions for unresectable or metastatic TNBC in patients who are not candidates for PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor therapy, giving the new combination a potential route into immunotherapy-containing first-line regimens.
The agreement follows AstraZeneca's USD 2 billion strategic equity investment in Summit Therapeutics announced in September 2026. The investment is intended in part to support clinical collaborations evaluating ivonescimab combinations, including this Datroway program, a separate agreement pairing ivonescimab with AstraZeneca's Claudin-18.2 ADC sonesitatug vedotin, and planned future combinations with other AstraZeneca oncology assets.