Pathos AI, a startup that developed artificial intelligence-enabled technologies for cancer drug research, has secured rights to two molecules whose clinical testing will proceed with a proprietary platform designed to make trials faster and more efficient.
New York-based Pathos said late Monday it is paying $125 million up front for rights to JSKN016, developed by Alphamab. This potential first-in-class drug is designed to go after two cancer targets, the proteins TROP2 and HER3. While there are FDA-approved drugs that hit each target, there are currently no therapies that address both.
China-based Alphamab designed JSKN016 as a bispecific antibody drug conjugate (ADC) that binds to TROP2 and/or HER3 on tumors, blocking signaling pathways of these cancer-driving proteins. This molecule also releases topoisomerase I inhibitor, a type of chemotherapy often used as an ADC drug payload, offering another mechanism to fight cancer.
Under Alphamab, an intravenously infused formulation of JSKN016 has reached Phase 3 testing in China in patients with triple-negative breast cancer that has failed to respond to at least two prior lines of systemic chemotherapy. A subcutaneously injected version of the drug is being evaluated in a Phase 1b study in China and in a Phase 1 study in Australia.
The agreement grants Pathos exclusive rights to develop and commercialize JSKN016 outside of Greater China, where Alphamab retains rights. Pathos could pay Alphamab up to $2.1 billion if the drug achieves milestones, plus royalties from sales if the drug reaches the market.
Pathos said JSKN016 was identified and prioritized for development with Foundry, the startup’s proprietary AI platform technology for oncology drug development. According to Pathos, Foundry uses thousands of AI agents that work in parallel to analyze biological, clinical, and real-world data. This analysis can identify drugs with high potential.
A separate deal brings Pathos into a collaboration on a cancer drug candidate from the pipeline of AstraZeneca. This small molecule, AZD4241, is part of the class of therapies called protein degraders. In some cancers, mutated forms of the estrogen receptor (ER) drive the disease. AZD4241 is designed to degrade this receptor. This molecule is in preclinical development for ER-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer.
The agreement with AstraZeneca makes Pathos responsible for early clinical development of AZD4241. No financial terms were disclosed.
Under Pathos, clinical development of both JSKN016 and AZD4241 will proceed with Foundry. Beyond its applications in drug discovery, the company says this technology can also identify patients eligible for a clinical trial and design the study. Foundry can also optimize dosing and match patients to the right therapies. In a prepared statement, Pathos AI CEO Iker Huerga said the bottleneck in cancer drug R&D is not in finding molecules, but rather in proving that they work in the right patients.
“AZD4241 has a compelling mechanism,” he said in a prepared statement. “Foundry’s job is to design the trial that proves it — matching this drug to the patients whose biology demands it. That is how we compress time.”
Pathos says all of the drugs in its pipeline have been identified, evaluated, or accelerated by Foundry. The most advanced program is P-500, a brain-penetrating small molecule inhibitor of an enzyme called PRMT5. Licensed from Prelude Therapeutics in 2024, this drug has since reached mid-stage clinical development for advanced solid tumors, including high-grade glioma and uveal melanoma.
Pocenbrodib, a small molecule inhibitor of a protein called CBP/p300, was initially developed by Forma Therapeutics, which was acquired by Novo Nordisk in 2022. Pathos licensed rights to this drug in 2023; it is currently in early clinical development for prostate and breast cancers as well as multiple myeloma.
In May, Pathos acquired a majority stake in DeuterOncology, a Belgium-based biotech in early clinical development with DO-2, a third-generation MET inhibitor in early clinical development for MET-altered non-small cell lung cancer. DO-2 was identified by Foundry.
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