With much of its growth aspirations resting on its flagship oncology portfolio, AstraZeneca set its sights on a new early-stage programme from Pinetree Therapeutics on Wednesday. The deal gives the UK pharma an exclusive option to license an EGFR-targeted protein degrader currently in preclinical development for drug-resistant tumours. Pinetree will receive $45 million in upfront and near-term payments and is also eligible for more than $500 million in milestones, plus tiered royalties. The candidate was developed using the biotech’s AbReptor platform, which enables the design of modular multi-specific antibodies that engage with an effector protein to degrade a membrane-bound, extracellular protein of interest. According to Pinetree CEO Hojuhn Song, its pan-EGFR programme has “demonstrated promising preclinical anti-tumor activity in drug- and TKI-resistant tumours as well as enhanced activity when used in combination with current EGFR inhibitors."Degrader trendsThe deal with Pinetree comes as AstraZeneca aims to boost its annual sales to $80 billion by 2030 as it pursues a “new era of growth” for its oncology, biopharmaceuticals and rare disease portfolio.About half of that sales target is expected to come from its cancer products, which currently contribute about 40% to its annual revenue. For related analysis, see Vital Signs: Where AstraZeneca can find $35 billion by 2030.AstraZeneca is the latest large pharma to secure a targeted protein degradation collaboration this year, albeit with a significantly lower total deal value.Novo Nordisk entered the space this year in a $1.46-billion tie-up with Neomorph, and Novartis agreed to a potentially billion-dollar-plus licensing deal with Arvinas.Bristol Myers Squibb has the most deals in the space, closing six since 2022. Most recently, the pharma partnered with VantAI to use the latter’s generative AI platform to design molecular glues. For related deal analysis, see Vital Signs: Mapping protein degradation partnerships.According to AstraZeneca’s website, it has an automated, end-to-end, orally bioavailable protein degrader discovery platform, as well as a suite of pharmacology and safety assays to measure the level of degradation and predict disease efficacy. The drugmaker also has several preclinical degrader tool compounds available for partnering through its Open Innovation research programme. Last year, AstraZeneca teamed up with the Francis Crick Institute and Imperial College London to discover new molecular glue degraders.