Takeda announced last week that it would acquire at least two late-stage oncology candidates, IBI363 and IBI34, for $1.2 billion from China’s Innovent Biologics. Takeda will have worldwide commercialization rights outside of Greater China. With milestones, the deal offers an additional up-to-$10.2 billion for Innovent, making it possibly one of the largest biotech partnerships of the year.

Both drug candidates are antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) that target hard-to-treat cancers. IBI363 is a potential first-in-class PD-1/IL-2 α-bias bispecific antibody fusion protein being evaluated in non-small cell lung and colorectal cancers. IBI343 is a “next-generation” investigational ADC that targets the Claudin 18.2 protein, which is often expressed in gastric and pancreatic cancer cells. Take

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