ADC Therapeutics bumps up series E by $76M, prepares lead drug for 2020 filing

ADC Therapeutics has expanded its series E by $76 million, bringing the financing to $276 million and its total haul to $531 million. The cash will advance the company’s pipeline of pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD)-based antibody-drug conjugates, including an FDA submission for its lead program in 2020. The cash will carry the Swiss biotech through the end of 2020, CEO Chris Martin, Ph.D., told FierceBiotech. The company is wrapping up the pivotal phase 2 study for ADCT-402 (loncastuximab tesirine), its lead program, in relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and expects to unveil top-line data later this year. It plans to file for FDA approval as a single agent in that particular blood cancer by the end of next year. ADC is also studying ADCT-402 on its own in non-Hodgkin lymphoma and in combination with Johnson & Johnson and Pharmacyclics' BTK inhibitor Imbruvica for relapsed or refractory DLBCL and mantle cell lymphoma, as well as with the British pharma’s checkpoint inhibitor Imfinzi for follicular lymphoma in addition to DLBCL and mantle cell lymphoma.