Adcendo ApS, a Copenhagen-based clinical-stage biotech, and MSD (Merck & Co., Rahway, NJ) announced a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement to evaluate a combination of Adcendo’s tissue factor-targeting antibody drug conjugate (ADC) ADCE-T02 with Keytruda (pembrolizumab). The Phase Ib study will evaluate the regimen across advanced solid tumors, with Adcendo set to act as sponsor while MSD will supply pembrolizumab under the deal terms.
ADCE-T02 is a topoisomerase-1 inhibitor-based ADC targeting Tissue Factor, a protein overexpressed across a range of solid tumors including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer, and cervical cancer. The asset is currently being evaluated as a monotherapy in the Phase I Tiffany-01 study (NCT06597721) in patients with advanced solid tumors. The new Phase Ib combination study will assess escalating doses of ADCE-T02 alongside standard-dose pembrolizumab, with safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy as primary endpoints. Adcendo anticipates dosing the first patient in the second half of 2026.
MSD has established a pattern of entering clinical collaboration and supply agreements with ADC developers seeking to combine their assets with pembrolizumab. In May 2025, MSD entered a structurally comparable agreement with Antengene Corporation to evaluate ATG-022, a CLDN18.2-targeting ADC, in combination with Keytruda in advanced solid tumors. Adcendo itself has previously expanded its pipeline through external platform licensing, exercising an option in November 2024 to broaden its license of Duality Biologics’ DITAC ADC linker-payload technology beyond its original uPARAP-targeting program.
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