Belrestotug

iStock, zhuweiyi49 After a slow 2024, the biotech shell company Concentra Biosciences is back, offering to buy four biotechs in the past month and seven so far this year. The busiest buyer in biotech right now happens to be the most mysterious. Concentra Biosciences, the biotech buyout specter run by Tang Capital, has ramped up its dealmaking after taking things slow over 2024. The shell company, which is run by mysterious investor Kevin Tang, has made bids to buy four biotechs over the past month and seven so far this year. Not all have been successful, with company boards popping the classic poison pill defense to ward off the unwanted advances. Acelyrin and Pliant fought off offers from Concentra in March. Kronos Bio accepted a similar offer in May worth about $34.8 million. This month, Cargo Therapeutics accepted a $200 million buyout, as did iTeos . Concentra does not hold on to these companies long. The intention is to close them, sell off the assets, return some cash to shareholders and reap whatever cash is left over. It’s a unique strategy in the biotech world but one that has plenty of fodder as the markets continue to batter the industry . The action this year mirrors Concentra’s bustling 2023, when six offers were made. Just two were ultimately successful, however. The company earned a reputation that year as a biotech dark horse—swooping in with an offer for a struggling company as the walls closed in, with a plan of shutting it down and reaping the benefits. Concentra’s pace is breakneck, with so many deals coming it’s hard to keep up with what has been successful and what ultimately failed. Kevin Tang did not return a request for comment as of publication, but recent regulatory documents filed from the slew of offers provide a window into the process. In the case of Elevation Oncology , the documents show that Tang took over and removed the executive committee and officers as the deal closed. At iTeos, the deal notes reveal Tang and his company dropping into executives’ DMs to discuss a possible offer after a disappointing clinical trial. A Failure and a Phone Call On May 13, iTeos announced Phase II results from a study testing belrestotug and GSK’s Jemperli in patients with high PD-L1 non-small cell lung cancer. The combo showed clinically meaningful improvements in objective response, which was the main goal, but did not meet the secondary of improving progression-free survival. Therefore, the companies decided to discontinue development of belrestotug altogether. Tang and his company saw the release, and days later, on May 15, disclosed in a Schedule 13G filing (which indicates a passive investment interest) its ownership of nearly 10% of iTeos’ shares. The Tang Capital team reached out to the biotech the next day to discuss the trial results—an unusual step as it’s typically positive results that garner investor interest. A few weeks later, on June 2, an advisor for iTeos contacted Tang Capital to see if the firm might be interested in a potential transaction. Tang’s crew asked for more information, specifically clinical and financial details, to guide the decision. The two parties entered into a confidentiality agreement a few days later. On June 11, the parties met in Boston, with iTeos’ management presenting an overview of the biotech. It took a day for Tang Capital to come up with an offer. Tang and his company offered to buy 100% of iTeos’ equity for $10.25 per share in cash, which represented the projected difference between iTeos’ net cash balance at closing after the discharge of liabilities and the aggregate cash payment that shareholders would receive, namely 3% of $490 million. Shareholders would also be eligible for two contingent value rights (CVRs) if all went well, hinging on cash available at closing and sales of the biotech’s legacy products. The first CVR would give shareholders all of the cash at closing that exceeded $490 million. The second granted them payouts should the iTeos team develop a new company for the legacy assets with a capital raise of at least $20 million. Later that same day, Tang filed a Schedule 13D with the SEC, suggesting an activist position in the company. Over the next few weeks, Tang Capital conducted due diligence. Tang Capital’s proposal was revised on June 26, edging the per-share price up to $10.36. Representatives for iTeos indicated a readiness to proceed with negotiating the transaction. The biotech’s executives suggested that the NewCo CVR be scrapped in favor of a structure that provided shareholders with 80% of the proceeds from the licensing, sale or other disposition of the assets instead. The company believed this simpler structure would provide greater certainty on the execution and timing of the transaction. After Tang Capital’s due diligence, the proposal was revised downward to $10.05 per share payable at closing. Tang’s group agreed to the new CVR proposal. Other negotiations included extending the legacy products CVR term to 10 years after the merger to allow greater certainty that shareholders would receive a payout. The deal was sealed on July 18, with iTeos issuing a press release announcing the transaction. Concentra offered a swift resolution after the clinical data just didn’t pan out for iTeos. Unfortunately, as the industry continues to reel, there could be plenty more companies ripe for similar transactions, meaning Concentra is providing a service uniquely suited to this moment in time for the industry.

来源：制药网 图片：花瓣网 近日，TIGIT 靶点凭独特的免疫调节机制，曾被业界认为将是改写肿瘤治疗格局的 “黄金靶点”，并引得罗氏、GSK、BMS、诺华、百济神州等众多国内外药企纷纷重金投入。然而，当下大批重磅玩家却正在加速撤退离场。 罗氏日前发布了2025年半年报，同时宣布砍掉7大研发管线。其中，其全球头个进入III期的TIGIT抑制剂——RG6058(tiragolumab)仅剩的两项III期临床，也已经正式终止。这意味着，罗氏已全面撤离了这个曾经寄予厚望的赛道，转而聚焦于其他新领域。 据悉，TIGIT靶点的价值是罗氏在2009年发现的，2021年其曾经围绕着Tiragolumab开展了有数10项II/III期临床试验。但从2022年起，罗氏在TIGIT 研发上就开始接连失败。2024年7月，罗氏tiragolumab在转移性非鳞状非小细胞肺癌II/III期研究上折戟，4个月后，该产品联合PD-L1 抗体治疗局部复发性或转移性非小细胞肺癌的III期临床也未达到 OS 主要终点。今年Q1，罗氏还进一步终止了其联合Tecentriq治疗局部晚期食管癌的III期研究。 5月，GSK宣布停止开发收购而来的TIGIT抗体药物——belrestotug，该决定是基于 GALAXIES Lung-201 和 GALAXIES H&N-202 两期临床研究的最新中期分析结果，这些研究未达到继续开发的既定疗效标准。 基于两项研究结果，该合作以及所有包含 Belrestotug 的研究队列都将终止，包括正在进行的 GALAXIES Lung-301 III 期试验的新入组。  4月，百济神州宣布终止 TIGIT抗体欧司珀利单抗(Ociperlimab)的肺癌适应症临床开发，因试验的总体有效性和安全性数据评估表明，该研究或难以达到总生存期主要终点，也未发现新的安全信号。据悉，在此之前，百济神州就已停止了欧司珀利单抗另外一项在不可手术III期PD-L1表达≥1%的NSCLC III期试验。 截至2024年12月，该项目已入组2000多例患者，累计投入达20.90亿元。这一巨额投入的终止，标志着百济神州在TIGIT靶点研发上的重大挫折。 2024年8月，Agenus公司宣布收到百时美施贵宝(BMS)的通知，后者由于管线开发战略调整，决定归还与其共同开发的TIGIT/CD96双特异性抗体BMS-986442 (AGEN1777)的权益，并自愿终止双方之前签订的许可协议。该决定自 2025 年 1 月 26 日起生效。 2024年12月，默沙东发布公告，经评估后，决定停止两个项目的开发，其中之一为TIGIT单抗vibostolimab。据了解，在8月份，默沙东就终止了K药+TIGIT用于一线治疗小细胞肺癌的三期临床。此外，在5月份，因为免疫副作用，默沙东还停止了K药+TIGIT联用辅助治疗黑色素瘤的三期临床。 业内分析认为，2025 年 TIGIT 赛道的退潮并非终点，而是行业从 “靶点狂热” 转向 “科学驱动” 的转折点。失败的教训虽沉重，但同时也将促使科学界更精准地探索疾病机制。未来，药企需在靶点选择、临床试验设计和资源分配上进行系统性革新，同时通过技术创新(如双抗、Fc 改造)和跨领域协同，为免疫治疗开辟新路径。 点击 阅读原文 了解更多