Promatix secures Innovate UK funding to advance bispecific ADC programme
pharmafile | August 3, 2026 | News story | | Innovate UK funding, Promatix, bispecific ADC programme
Promatix Biosciences has secured funding through Innovate UK’s Biomedical Catalyst programme to support preclinical development of its lead bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidate for colorectal cancer and other solid tumours.
The award will fund the scale-up of PBS293-exatecan, additional proof-of-concept studies in cell-derived and patient-derived xenograft models, and investigational new drug (IND)-enabling safety studies. The programme will also evaluate the therapy in oesophageal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.
PBS293-exatecan is a cis-bispecific ADC targeting both EGFR and EphA2, two antigens commonly co-expressed on colorectal tumour cells. The candidate is designed to selectively bind cells expressing both targets, with the aim of improving tumour selectivity while reducing toxicity associated with conventional EGFR-targeted therapies.
According to the company, preclinical studies have shown potent anti-tumour activity while substantially sparing normal human keratinocytes and endothelial cells, supporting the therapeutic rationale for its ‘AND-gate’ targeting approach.
Dr Roy Pettipher, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Promatix, said the funding would enable the company to generate the preclinical package required to advance the programme towards development candidate nomination and future partnering discussions.
“PBS293-exatecan combines potent tumour-cell killing with sparing of normal skin and vascular cells in our preclinical work, reflecting the tumour selectivity that is central to our cis-bispecific approach,” Pettipher explained.
The project will be carried out with UK contract research organisations including Abzena, Crown Bioscience and Labcorp UK.
Promatix said the programme also provides an opportunity to validate its proteomics-driven discovery platform, which combines tumour surface proteomics with computational modelling to identify tumour-selective antigen pairs for next-generation ADC development.
CEO and Co-Founder of Promatix Dr Michael Hunter added: “It will enable us to advance PBS293-exatecan in colorectal cancer while extending the same logic-gated approach to further solid tumours, including oesophageal and non-small cell lung cancer.
“Generating robust efficacy and safety data in this programme is a key inflection point that we expect to underpin a future pharma partnership.”
