ADC Therapeutics, an oncology drug discovery and development company that specializes in the development of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), and Freenome, a biotechnology company that has pioneered a multiomics platform for early cancer detection through a routine blood draw, have entered a biomarker development collaboration in which ADC Therapeutics will use Freenome’s platform to identify patients who are most likely to respond to treatment with ADCT-402 (loncastuximab tesirine). ADC Therapeutics is currently evaluating ADCT-402 in a pivotal Phase II clinical trial in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).
 
Freenome’s platform will characterize tumor heterogeneity and systemic immune response to identify signatures from blood of DLBCL patients participating in ADC Therapeutics’ pivotal Phase II clinical trial. The multiomics approach will allow ADC Therapeutics to consider a broad range of DNA, RNA and protein markers in developing a biomarker signature.
 
“Our partnership with ADC Therapeutics validates our unique multiomics platform and its potential to help biopharmaceutical companies develop innovative cancer therapies for patients in need,” said Gabe Otte, chief executive officer, Freenome. “Our platform can help biopharma partners refine biomarker development and potentially de-risk and accelerate drug development by characterizing patients likely to respond to therapy. In addition, given that ADCT-402 is targeting a hematological malignancy, this partnership highlights the potential of our platform to provide tumor and immune signatures for hematological cancers in addition to solid tumors. Combined with the ongoing development of our early cancer screening test, we are moving closer to our goal of helping physicians and patients navigate precision health by identifying cancer at its earliest stages when treatments can be most effective.”
 
Patrick van Berkel, senior vice president of research and development, ADC Therapeutics, said, “We are excited to leverage Freenome’s unique platform to potentially enhance our identification and understanding of the patients who are most likely to benefit from treatment with ADCT-402, which has been demonstrating significant single-agent clinical activity in a broad population of patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in our pivotal Phase II clinical trial. This partnership adds to our ongoing biomarker research efforts, which we believe will be advantageous as we continue to advance the clinical development of ADCT-402.”