Heidelberg Pharma firmly believes that it is developing targeted and highly effective therapies for the treatment of cancer by leveraging its ADC technologies. The company uses several compounds and has built up an ADC toolbox that overcomes tumor resistance via numerous pathways and addresses different types of cancer using various antibodies. In particular, the patented and proprietary ATAC platform based on the mushroom toxin Amanitin has a unique mode of action that could be of great medical benefit.

The strategy’s core elements are the expansion of the Company’s own project pipeline, the development of the pipeline projects until clinical proof of concept, the initiation of further research and option agreements and their extension to include long-term license agreements, as well as the broadening of the technology base. The cooperation with existing partners is to be continued and expanded as planned and ideally lead to one or more therapeutic candidates.

Heidelberg Pharma is the first company to use the compound Amanitin from the green death cap mushroom in cancer therapy. The biological mechanism of action of the toxin represents a new therapeutic modality and is used as a compound in the Amanitin-based ADC technology, the so-called ATAC technology. Amanitin is cross-linked to different antibodies designed to transport the compound to the cancer cell, where it is absorbed. There, the Amanitin is released and inhibits RNA polymerase II, which results in programmed cell death, or apoptosis.

The most advanced product candidate HDP-101 is a BCMA-ATAC for the indication multiple myeloma, which is currently in clinical development. Further ATAC candidates are being developed against different targets such as CD37 or PSMA each in the indications non-Hodgkin's lymphoma und metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

The first candidate that Heidelberg Pharma is developing with a toxin other than Amanitin is HDP-201, an exatecan-based ADC. Exatecan is a topoisomerase I inhibitor that has proven itself in cancer therapy and is used in two already approved ADCs. It differs in its mode of action from that of Amanitin and thus expands the company's range of compounds. HDP-201, targets guanylyl cyclase-C (GCC), a receptor that is expressed on the surface of intestinal cells and cancer cells in various gastrointestinal tumors.

In addition to its ADC technologies, Heidelberg Pharma also has a more mature clinical portfolio that is further developed and exploited by licensing partners. Former product candidates girentuximab (TLX250-CDx) and upamostat were out-licensed to partners. Heidelberg Pharma will receive milestone payments if the candidates are approved and marketed.