Context Therapeutics is building up its bank of bispecific antibody candidates. The Philadelphia-based company is paying $11 million upfront for a T-cell engaging antibody from BioAtla, according to a Sept. 23 SEC filing.
BioAtla is also eligible to receive $4 million in near-term milestones and $118.5 million in additional milestone payments as well as tiered royalties on net sales, according to the filing.
“We believe this transaction marks the first of multiple collaborations, including a targeted collaboration for one of our phase 2 assets over the coming months, thereby increasing shareholder value through non-dilutive means,” BioAtla CEO, chair and co-founder Jay Short, Ph.D., said in a Sept. 23 release.
Context’s new asset is BA3362, a bispecific that binds to Nectin-4 on tumor cells and CD3 on T cells, galvanizing the T cells to attack the cancer.
Under the terms of the deal, Context has an exclusive, global license to develop, manufacture and commercialize BA3362 and will take on and fund all development and commercialization activities, the companies said in the release.
“This transaction is consistent with our focus on building a pipeline of TCE assets through strategic in-licensing or acquisition,” Context CEO Martin Lehr said in the release. “Nectin-4 is a priority target for Context given the target’s high prevalence in solid tumors and the unmet need to address potential resistance to Nectin-4 antibody-drug conjugates. We identified BioAtla's Nectin-4 TCE antibody as a potentially best-in-class asset.”
BA3362, now renamed CT-202, is joining two other bispecifics already moving through Context’s pipeline. CTIM-76, which targets claudin-6, and CT-95, which binds mesothelin, are set to be dosed in the first patients of phase 1 trials later this year and early next year, respectively.
Context plans to apply for an investigational new drug (IND) application for CT-202 in mid-2026 and expects their cash runway to last them through the phase 1 trials and operations into 2027, according to the filing.