Summit Therapeutics (SMMT) Citi's 2024 Global Healthcare Conference summary

Strategic asset identification and partnership formation

• Leadership assembled a top-tier oncology team before selecting a product, focusing on expertise to guide asset acquisition.

• Extensive global search led to partnership with Akeso in China, leveraging their innovation and strong relationships.

• Despite being a small team, secured a major deal for ivonescimab, outmaneuvering larger pharma due to agility and direct investment.

• Raised $1 billion post-transaction with minimal fundraising costs, aligning interests through cross-ownership with Akeso.

• Focus remains on impactful healthcare innovation, with financial success seen as a byproduct.

Ivonescimab mechanism and differentiation

• Ivonescimab is a bispecific antibody targeting PD-1 and VEGF, engineered for allosteric cooperativity, enhancing efficacy and safety.

• Unique Morrison format allows daisy chaining, increasing immune system stimulation and altering half-life for improved safety.

• Clinical data show reduced typical anti-VEGF toxicities due to tumor microenvironment targeting.

• Demonstrated superior efficacy to pembrolizumab in clinical trials, with a favorable safety profile.

• Only known PD-1/VEGF bispecific with allosteric cooperativity among 21 competitors.

Clinical trial results and ongoing studies

• HARMONi-2 trial: Ivonescimab monotherapy showed significant PFS improvement over pembrolizumab in frontline NSCLC, with manageable adverse events.

• Safety profile: Immune-related adverse events were similar or lower, with VEGF-related events manageable and discontinuation rates lower for ivonescimab.

• HARMONi-2 conducted at 55 sites in China; strong PFS benefit suggests likely OS benefit, with OS data pending due to trial design.

• HARMONi-7 global phase III will compare ivonescimab and pembrolizumab monotherapies in high PD-L1 NSCLC, with dual PFS and OS endpoints; enrollment starts early 2025.

• HARMONi-3 expanded to include both squamous and non-squamous NSCLC, aiming for efficiency and broader impact.