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InduPro raises USD 77m as proximity-guided bispecific ADC enters clinic

Edited by Robert McTiernan··2 min read
InduPro raises USD 77m as proximity-guided bispecific ADC enters clinic

Seattle-based InduPro, Inc. has closed a USD 77 million Series B financing and dosed the first patient in a Phase I study of IDP-001, a bispecific antibody-drug conjugate targeting EGFR and a novel tumor-associated proximity antigen. The study will focus on adults with advanced squamous and non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and other solid tumors.

The Column Group led the round, with existing investors Vida Ventures, MRL Ventures Fund — the therapeutics-focused venture arm of Merck & Co., Inc. — Emerson Collective (advised by Yosemite), and Euclidean Capital all participating again. New investors Solasta Ventures, Sanofi, and Eli Lilly and Company also joined.

InduPro said proceeds will support Phase I clinical development and early proof-of-concept data generation for IDP-001, as well as advancement of its broader preclinical pipeline. The Series B follows an USD 85 million Series A closed in June 2024, co-led by The Column Group and Vida Ventures. Sanofi and Eli Lilly had each previously made strategic equity investments in the company alongside collaboration agreements — Sanofi in December 2025 to advance a preclinical bispecific PD-1 agonist program for autoimmune disorders, and Eli Lilly in January 2026 through a collaboration valued at up to approximately USD 950 million to discover bispecific and multispecific oncology therapeutics.

IDP-001 is a potential first-in-class proximity-based bispecific ADC co-targeting EGFR and CDCP1, which InduPro has also designated tumor-associated proximity antigen TAPA-E1. The candidate uses a monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) payload with a low drug-to-antibody ratio (DAR), according to preclinical data presented at AACR 2025.

InduPro identified CDCP1 as a tumor-associated proximity partner for EGFR using its membrane interactomics (MInt) platform, which uses proximity-labeling proteomics to map spatial protein neighborhoods on the cell surface. Rather than relying on co-expression alone, the approach seeks pairs of proteins that are positioned close together on tumor cells, allowing bispecific molecules to exploit co-binding for greater tumor selectivity.

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In preclinical studies, EGFR×CDCP1 bispecific antibodies showed enhanced selective internalization and cell killing through co-binding. IDP-001 demonstrated in vitro activity across cancer cell lines with varying target-expression levels, including osimertinib-resistant EGFR-mutant NSCLC, while showing minimal activity against normal cells expressing both targets. The ADC also demonstrated antitumor activity in a subcutaneous xenograft model.

The open-label, first-in-human Phase I study (NCT07602842) is evaluating safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and preliminary antitumor activity of IDP-001 as monotherapy.

The platform was invented at the Merck Exploratory Science Center by co-founders Rob Oslund, Ph.D. and Niyi Fadeyi, Ph.D., with K. Christopher Garcia, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology and Structural Biology at Stanford University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, serving as scientific founder. Beyond IDP-001, InduPro's pipeline includes a preclinical PD-1 agonist program partnered with Sanofi and additional undisclosed preclinical candidates spanning ADC, T-cell engager, and bispecific antibody modalities across oncology and autoimmune indications.

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