OnCo
companiesCompany

Akeso

Chinese biotech whose ivonescimab beat Keytruda head-to-head, and developer of the Nectin-4×TROP2 ADC.

Ivonescimab (PD-1×VEGF), cadonilimab (PD-1×CTLA-4), AK146D1 bispecific ADC.

Headquarters
Zhongshan, CN
Type
biotech · 9926.HK

Products

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Under reviewBispecific antibody (PD-1×VEGF)
Ivonescimab

A Chinese bispecific that beat Keytruda head-to-head on progression-free survival in lung cancer, the first drug ever to do so.

Phase 1Bispecific ADC
AK146D1

AK146D1 is Akeso's Nectin-4 × TROP2 bispecific ADC, combining the two most validated ADC addresses in one molecule.

Not filedBispecific antibody (PD-1×CTLA-4)
Cadonilimab · Kaitanni

A Chinese two-armed antibody that blocks PD-1 and CTLA-4 together, approved in China for cervical cancer and extending survival even in PD-L1-negative tumours.

Not mapped hereAnti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody (IgG1, Fc-engineered null)
Penpulimab · Penpulimab-kcqx

Penpulimab is a Chinese PD-1 antibody approved in the US in 2025 for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, the second after toripalimab.

Key papers

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rctThe Lancet 2025
HARMONi-2: ivonescimab, a PD-1 x VEGF bispecific, beats pembrolizumab head-to-head in PD-L1-positive lung cancer

For the first time a new drug has beaten pembrolizumab, the global first-line standard, in a randomised lung cancer trial, and it did so by combining checkpoint blockade with anti-angiogenesis in one molecule. For patients outside China nothing changes yet: the drug is not approved in the West, the trial was single-country, and survival benefit has not been shown. If confirmed in the global HARMONi-3 and HARMONi-7 trials, PD-1 x VEGF bispecifics could replace PD-1 antibodies as the immunotherapy backbone.

Connected

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cancers

3
Cervical cancerNasopharyngeal carcinomaNon-small-cell lung cancer

fronts

2
Antibody-Drug ConjugatesImmunotherapy

technologies

1
Bispecific ADC

drugs

4
Phase 1Bispecific ADC
AK146D1
Not filedBispecific antibody (PD-1×CTLA-4)
Cadonilimab · Kaitanni
Under reviewBispecific antibody (PD-1×VEGF)
Ivonescimab
Not mapped hereAnti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody (IgG1, Fc-engineered null)
Penpulimab · Penpulimab-kcqx

institutions

1
National Medical Products Administration / Center for Drug Evaluation

trials

1
COMPASSION-16 / AK104-303

people

2
Caicun ZhouWenfeng Fang

bottlenecks

2
Regulatory divergence between regionsTrials do not represent the people who get cancer

key papers

1
HARMONi-2: ivonescimab, a PD-1 x VEGF bispecific, beats pembrolizumab head-to-head in PD-L1-positive lung cancer