Last year, German biotechnology company BioNTech spent less than $1 billion to acquire a Chinese company's investigational cancer drug, which was sold for over $11 billion in just six months.

According to public statements from both companies, BMS will collaborate with BioNTech to develop and commercialize a tumor drug called BNT327, which is a bispecific antibody drug targeting PD-L1 and VEGF-A for the treatment of various solid tumors.

BNT327 was acquired by BioNTech last year through the acquisition of Chinese biotechnology company Pumis Biotech. Last November, BioNTech acquired Pumis Biotech for only $800 million, and with the subsequent milestone payment of $150 million, the entire acquisition transaction was less than $1 billion. BioNTech has thus acquired full global ownership of BNT327.

Currently, BNT327 is undergoing clinical trials as a first-line treatment for extensive stage small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. So far, over 1000 patients have received treatment with this drug.

The latest transaction between BMS and BioNTech, which exceeds billions of dollars, includes an unconditional payment of $3.5 billion. According to the agreement, the two companies will split the global profits or losses of the drug equally, and the joint development and production costs will also be shared in a 50/50 ratio.

This news not only boosted BioNTech's stock price by more than 20% on the same day, but also pushed another company, Instil Bio, which is developing similar dual drug drugs, up nearly 30% in stock price.

At present, PD-L1/VEGF bispecific drugs have become a popular research and development track in the entire pharmaceutical industry. This kind of drugs can treat cancer by blocking the "checkpoint inhibitor" PD-L1 and VEGF proteins, showing potential in non-small cell lung cancer, renal cancer and triple negative breast cancer, and is expected to replace the previous generation of tumor "Keytruda" in MSD. The principle of Keytruda is to help immune cells recognize and attack tumors. According to the Merck East Financial Report, Keytruda's sales reached $29.5 billion in the 2024 fiscal year.

Chinese biotechnology companies have led the research and development of PD-L1/VEGF bispecific drugs. At this year's ASCO conference, Kangfang Biotechnology and its partner Summit Therapeutics released the first global Phase 3 clinical trial results of the PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody ivonescimab. The data shows that the drug can reduce the risk of disease progression or death by 48% in previously treated patients with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). According to previous Phase 3 clinical data in China, the drug reduced the risk of disease progression or death in patients by 54%.

Last month, Pfizer announced an authorized partnership with China Three Life Pharmaceuticals for the PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody SSGJ-707, with a prepayment of $1.25 billion and an additional milestone payment of up to $4.8 billion based on research and development results. SSGJ-707 clinical data shows that the drug has potential for indications such as non-small cell lung cancer.

Last November, Merck also partnered with Lixin Pharmaceutical and agreed to pay up to 3.3 billion US dollars to acquire a PD-1/VEGF dual antibody LM-299 under development.

Last August, Yiming'angke reached an agreement with Instil Bio worth over $2 billion, in which Instil Bio will receive two drugs including Yiming'angke's PD-1/VEGF dual antibody IMM2510. IMM2510 has completed a dose escalation clinical trial for advanced solid tumors.

The latest Phase 3 clinical data released by Kangfang Biotechnology is also quite positive. Driven by these transactions and the latest clinical data, the PD-1/VEGF dual antibody has been completely ignited