BeOne Medicines has shaken up its early pipeline, dropping five phase 1 cancer programs and stopping a phase 2 arthritis trial based on new data.
Four of the five cancer assets have been discontinued entirely, BeOne announced in its May 6 earnings presentation (PDF). These are the EGFR-targeting BG-60366, which was in development for lung cancer; a pan-KRAS inhibitor called BGB-53038 for lung and gastrointestinal tumors; MAT2A inhibitor BG-89894 for lung and solid tumors; and CDK2 inhibitor BG-68501, for breast and solid tumors.
The CDK2 inhibitor came from a $1.33 billion deal with Ensem Therapeutics in 2023, while the MAT2A asset was from a late 2024 pact with Chinese outfit CSPC Zhongqi Pharmaceutical Technology.
A study of the CCR8 antibody BGB-A3055 in solid tumors has also been terminated, but this asset has not been fully discontinued, a BeOne spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Biotech.
“Following a comprehensive review against our development criteria, we have made the decision to discontinue several early-stage research assets,” the spokesperson said. “Discontinuing a specific asset does not mean we are stepping away from innovation in these target areas. We continue to pursue these targets through a multi-modality approach, with promising pipeline assets for several of these targets already being studied.”
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In addition, the global biopharma formerly known as BeiGene has elected to halt a phase 2 trial of BGB-45035, an IRAK4 degrader, in rheumatoid arthritis. This decision was made based on “emerging new data,” the spokesperson said.
“We are in the process of analyzing the data to decide the next steps for this program,” the spokesperson added. In addition to arthritis, BGB-45035 is currently listed in phase 1 development for skin diseases on BeOne’s pipeline.
The culled BGB-53038 was the only RAS inhibitor BeOne was developing. The RAS field has become red-hot in the wake of phase 3 pancreatic cancer data from Revolution Medicines, with AbbVie recently financing a candidate from Kestrel Therapeutics in a deal that could end with the Chicago pharma acquiring Kestrel outright.
The cancer culls come not long after BeOne paid $20 million upfront for the right to buy a preclinical trispecific antibody from China’s Huahui Health. The deal to potentially get its hands on the molecule, which targets PD-1, CTLA-4 and VEGF-A, could reach a total value of $2 billion.
