Formosa Pharmaceuticals has entered into a licensing agreement with Almac Discovery for the development and commercialisation of ALM-401, an engineered bispecific ADC for the treatment of patients with solid tumours.
Through this agreement, Formose will be responsible for the next phases of CMC and drug development — including IND submission and early clinical trials.
ALM-401 has been the culmination of a multi-year R&D programme at Almac Discovery deploying their proprietary OmniaScape™ informatics platform, protein engineering, and medicinal chemistry capabilities. The design of ALM-401 has built upon the recent clinical successes within the ADC field, including selection of a linker-payload matched to potential clinical cancer indications. The molecule also benefits from being approximately half the size of conventional ADCs, thereby facilitating enhanced solid tumour penetration. The main features of ALM-401 include:
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Innovative bi-specific target-pairing based on co-expression and functional analysis of specific, aggressive solid tumours
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Sustained high-efficacy in vivo in PDX models, as presented at the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR; Chicago) annual meeting
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Half the size of conventional ADCs for enhanced solid tumour penetration and optimised manufacturing
Formosa Pharmaceuticals, is a clinical-stage biotechnology company with a primary focus on the areas of ophthalmology and oncology, with particular CMC and manufacturing expertise for specialist ADC therapeutics.
“Formosa Pharma is pleased to have this opportunity to bring ALM-401 into our development pipeline. This novel, next-generation ADC complements our corporate strategy and resources and promises to deliver a differentiated therapy to cancer patients worldwide," noted Formosa's President and CEO, Dr Erick Co.
"We look forward to collaborating closely with Almac Discovery in advancing this exciting programme through clinical trials, commercialisation and beyond,” he added.
“We are pleased to have met Formosa’s exacting selection requirements for Next Generation ADC candidates,” said Dr. Stephen Barr, President and Managing Director of Almac Discovery. “This agreement allows the seamless progression of the molecule into clinical evaluation, driven by Formosa.”
“In addition to an excellent preclinical efficacy profile, high-quality, robust, and scalable CMC and manufacturing is a key competitive advantage for ADCs in the fast-moving race for effective cancer therapeutics,” commented Dr. Graham Cotton, Vice-President of Protein Therapeutics, Almac Discovery.
