AstraZeneca has signed a licensing agreement with Pinetree Therapeutics for a preclinical epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) degrader candidate, potentially worth more than $545m.

AstraZeneca will pay $45m upfront for global developmental and commercialisation rights for the pan-EGFR degrader, and Pinetree will also be in line to receive up to $500m in milestone-based payments along with tiered royalties on sales.

“[The] pan-EGFR degrader was developed from AbReptor, our proprietary multispecific antibody platform and has demonstrated promising preclinical anti-tumour activity in drug-resistant and tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI)-resistant tumours, as well as enhanced activity when used in combination with current EGFR inhibitors,” said Dr Hojuhn Song, founder and CEO of Pinetree.

Targeted protein degraders, often called molecular glues, have been a growing area of interest in recent years. Most of these therapies are developed in oncology. According to GlobalData’s drug database, over 200 therapies in development have been classified as molecular glue drugs.

Several top pharmaceutical companies have invested in developing protein degrader therapies in recent years. In February, Novo Nordisk signed a $1.46bn deal with US-based biotech Neomorph to discover and develop multiple ‘molecular glue’ protein degraders for cardiometabolic disorders and rare diseases. As per the agreement, Neomorph will be responsible for the discovery and preclinical research while Novo will have exclusive rights to further clinical development and commercialisation.

The same month, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) signed a drug development partnership with US deep tech company VantAI. As part of the agreement, BMS will leverage VantAI’s generative AI platform to design and develop molecular glues.

AstraZeneca has found success with EGFR-targeting therapies. Tagrisso (osimertinib), an EGFR inhibitor, generated approximately $5.8bn in sales last year, per the company’s financials. GlobalData predicts the therapy’s sales to increase to over $7.4bn by 2030.

Tagrisso is approved as a combination treatment with chemotherapy to treat locally advanced or metastatic EGFR mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), EGFR T790m-positive NSCLC, and as an adjuvant therapy for early-stage EGFRm NSCLC.