Media Focus | Tonacea: Under the Dual-Mode Narrative, Nanolattix Launches a Synergistic Offensive

Every April, the global cancer research community turns its eyes to the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). From April 17 to 22, 2026, AACR convened as scheduled in San Diego, USA.

A total of 104 Chinese pharmaceutical companies showcased over 250 innovative drugs, and more than 30 Chinese studies were selected for the core oral presentation sessions. ADC drugs once again occupied the undisputed center stage, with familiar targets such as HER2, TROP2, EGFR, and Claudin 18.2 appearing repeatedly on exhibition boards.

Amid this bustling scene, Nanolattix, a company from Shanxi province, entered the spotlight with a rare strategic posture.

The company had two studies concurrently selected for this year's AACR: one focusing on a HER2/TF bispecific ADC/RDC, featured in the "Drug Resistance" session; the other focusing on a TF-targeted radiopharmaceutical RDC, featured in the "Theranostics" session. Both studies point to the same core target yet follow two distinctly different technological paths—a distribution that is no coincidence, but rather reflects Nanolattix's overarching strategy of synergistic development around RDC and ADC.

Behind this lies an even more aggressive logic. Nanolattix's genuine core assets are its HER2+TF bispecific antibody combination: B836 (ADC) and RB02 (RDC). This "same antibody backbone, dual-modality parallel" layout is rarely seen in the current context of Chinese innovative drug development.

A question thus emerges: Why does this biotech company simultaneously pursue both ADC and RDC against the same set of targets? And why has it chosen to place its bets on a "bispecific antibody + dual-modality" technological pathway?

"1+1>2"

Over the past two decades, the dominant logic of oncology drug development can be summed up in one sentence: find a target, select a mechanism, and launch a product.

Whether small molecule targeted drugs, monoclonal antibodies, or the recent ADC craze, most have followed the same path—moving forward along a single causal chain of "target and mechanism," trading efficiency and minimized variables for predictable clinical development.

This methodology has spawned countless blockbuster drugs and shaped the industry's R&D inertia. However, the single-target, single-mechanism drug development model is increasingly hitting its efficacy ceiling in oncology.

Tumor heterogeneity dictates that no single mechanism can completely eradicate all tumor cells. HER2-targeted ADCs may fail due to antigen downregulation, PD-1 inhibitors may encounter resistance from T-cell exhaustion, and small molecule targeted drugs struggle to cover all driver mutation clones.

The clear signal from JPM 2026 is that the industry is shifting towards target differentiation, full-chain technology iteration, and exploration of combination therapies. Take transactions as an example: in 2025, the total value of out-licensing deals for Chinese innovative drugs exceeded $130 billion, a record high. A closer look at the structure of these deals reveals that MNCs' focus is shifting from "buying a late-stage asset" to "buying a target portfolio" and "buying a mechanism synergy capability."

For example, in the over $13 billion collaboration between Qiguang Dejian, US-based Biohaven, and South Korea's AimedBio, in addition to global rights for a first-in-class FGFR3-targeted ADC, the deal also involves a co-development platform for 21 ADC targets. Similarly, Harbour BioMed entered a strategic collaboration with BMS on a multispecific antibody discovery project, integrating its proprietary antibody discovery platform into BMS's R&D system.

IO+ADC, IO+bispecific antibodies, IO+degraders—these combination logics are moving from academic hypotheses to clinical mainstream. A natural question arises: is it possible to achieve synergy between two mechanisms at an even more upstream level, using a single system?

The natural structural similarity between ADC and RDC offers a direction for answering this question.

Both ADC and RDC follow a modular architecture of "targeting ligand, linker, and effector molecule." ADCs use antibodies to precisely deliver highly toxic small molecules to tumor cells, achieving "targeted explosion." RDCs, on the other hand, rely on the radiation energy of radionuclides to kill tumors, with a broader radius of action that can cover antigen-low or heterogeneous subclones, while also offering the visualization capability of diagnostic imaging.

In other words, if one antibody backbone can carry both a cytotoxic chemical payload and a radionuclide, then "diagnosis" and "therapy," "chemical killing" and "radiation killing," can be closed into a loop on the same technology platform.

In this direction, Nanolattix has already taken the lead and provided a verifiable solution.

Nanolattix's Solution

To understand Nanolattix's choice, we must first return to the TF target itself.

TF (tissue factor) is highly overexpressed in multiple solid tumors, including cervical cancer, head and neck cancer, colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and pancreatic cancer, while its expression in normal tissues is limited. It is a clinically validated target for ADC development.

Kaplan-Meier survival analysis shows that high expression of the TF gene is significantly associated with poor prognosis in renal and pancreatic cancers. TF drives uncontrolled cancer cell proliferation and prevents apoptosis by activating the JAK2-STAT5 pathway, making it a highly attractive therapeutic target.

More importantly, TF plays a multifaceted role in tumor progression, participating in angiogenesis and influencing the coagulation and inflammatory status of the microenvironment. This means that interventions targeting TF inherently possess a biological basis for synergizing with multiple mechanisms. The world's first TF-targeted ADC, tisotumab vedotin, was approved in 2024 for recurrent or metastatic cervical cancer, clinically validating the druggability of this target.

Chinese pharmaceutical companies are not lagging behind. Based on lead validation of the TF target, Nanolattix's first product, T320 (TF monoclonal antibody ADC), has received clinical trial approval in China, the US, and Australia, demonstrated over 90% tumor inhibition rate in pancreatic cancer animal models, and was granted FDA Orphan Drug Designation for pancreatic cancer in May 2024.

RT01, a monoclonal antibody RDC using the TF antibody as a ligand, has completed the basic exploration of the theranostics pathway. In February of this year, Nanolattix announced that the first subject in an investigator-initiated trial (IIT) for RT01 had been dosed. Its 89Zr diagnostic radionuclide clearly detected tumor lesions; in animal tumor models, a single dose of 200 μCi of 177Lu-RT01 demonstrated significant tumor inhibition without detectable severe toxicity.

The solid data from these two monoclonal antibodies have laid the foundation for the druggability of the TF antibody platform, but Nanolattix's core differentiation goes far beyond this.

Based on the extensive co-expression of HER2 and TF in multiple solid tumors such as breast, gastric, lung, and pancreatic cancers, Nanolattix has developed the bispecific antibody B836/RB02, which targets both HER2 and TF. The dual-target design not only significantly expands the range of indications but also enhances tumor cell selectivity and internalization efficiency through synergistic recognition mechanisms.

Experimental data show that the bispecific antibody RB02/B836 exhibits significantly superior tumor cell binding and internalization rates compared to HER2 monoclonal antibody and TF monoclonal antibody.

In preclinical studies, the bispecific ADC B836 maintained potent activity even in low HER2-expressing models, achieving tumor inhibition comprehensively surpassing that of trastuzumab deruxtecan (DS8201). GLP toxicology studies further showed that B836 had a highest non-severe toxic dose (HNSTD) of 5 mg/kg in cynomolgus monkeys, with no ophthalmic toxicity or interstitial pneumonia-related abnormalities commonly seen with DS8201, demonstrating a superior safety window.

The same bispecific antibody ligand has been further developed into the RDC drug RB02. Through antibody engineering to optimize in vivo distribution, dynamic SPECT/CT imaging monitoring showed that the radioactive exposure of 177Lu-RB02 continuously accumulated at the tumor site over time in tumor models, while radiation intensity in background tissues rapidly diminished. The engineered bispecific RDC exhibited significantly reduced non-specific aggregation in the kidneys and liver, greatly lowering off-target radiation risk.

In tumor animal models, a single dose of 200 μCi of 177Lu-RB02 achieved significant tumor suppression, with anti-tumor efficacy superior to the same-target ADC drug DS8201, while animal body weight remained stable without severe toxicity. Based on these data, RB02 is preparing to enter IIT clinical studies.

Nanolattix ADC+RDC Pipeline

A New BD Coordinate System

If 2023 was the "golden era of radiopharmaceuticals" with heavy bets from major players, 2024 was the year when "capital loved ADCs," and 2025 saw the "outbound wave" of bispecific antibodies represented by VEGF/PD-(L)1 combinations, then currently, Nanolattix, standing at the intersection of these three narratives, is undoubtedly commanding attention.

From the monoclonal antibody validation of T320, the radiopharmaceutical proof-of-concept of RT01, to the bispecific dual-modality layout of B836 and RB02, Nanolattix's product matrix centered on the TF and HER2+TF targets has formed a coherent, stepwise cascade.

This matrix shares a common underlying logic: with the BioLattix technology platform as the axis, the same antibody backbone extends simultaneously toward both ADC and RDC, allowing the value of a target to be validated in parallel along the two pathways of chemical toxicity delivery and radiant energy delivery.

Pipeline progress is the "surface," while platform capability is the "core." What truly deserves attention are the three fundamental capabilities enabled by BioLattix: differentiated target combinations, a multi-mechanism risk hedging structure, and an open, accessible antibody backbone system.

Differentiated Target Combinations

For partners accessing the BioLattix platform, the first layer of assets they can expect to gain is the differentiated target layout around TF and HER2+TF. TF has been clinically validated in indications such as cervical cancer, but the space is far from saturated. HER2+TF dual targeting, on the other hand, enters a blank zone with no similar drug on the market—and this is only the starting point. Following the same platform logic, Nanolattix is advancing bispecific and dual-toxin pipelines targeting multiple differentiated target combinations, with extensible indication space far beyond the current scope.

More critically, the same antibody ligand can simultaneously generate both ADC and RDC pathways, meaning that partners gain far more than isolated products—they acquire the dual-modality synergistic capability of "precision chemotherapy + precision internal radiotherapy."

Diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals enable visualization, therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals enable treatment, and ADCs can be used in sequential combination—all three share the same antibody backbone, allowing the commercial value of a target to be released in parallel across two technological paths. Against the backdrop of global RDC pipelines being highly concentrated on PSMA and SSTR, and over 70 domestic radiopharmaceutical pipelines crowding around a few targets, this combination builds a moat simultaneously in both target selection and molecular format dimensions.

Risk Hedging

One of the core design principles of the BioLattix platform is to validate the value of the same target in parallel along two independent mechanisms—ADC and RDC. Chemical toxicity delivery and radiant energy delivery have different pathways of action and distinct resistance mechanisms, serving as backups for each other. Even if one pathway encounters safety or efficacy bottlenecks during clinical development, the other can still advance independently, preventing the overall pipeline value from falling to zero.

This built-in risk diversification structure, for partners needing to manage R&D portfolio uncertainty, is itself an active risk control strategy: without additional investment, it achieves mechanistic diversification within a single target asset.

Rapid Derivation of Variants

The full-chain architecture of the BioLattix platform gives it an inherently transferable nature. In theory, once a validated target or proprietary antibody is integrated into the platform, corresponding ADC or RDC variants can be rapidly derived without building a conjugation system from scratch.

This "shared antibody backbone" model turns the platform itself into an engine for continuously generating differentiated pipelines—a logic already demonstrated in the collaboration between AstraZeneca and Harbour BioMed. Currently, Nanolattix's HER2+TF bispecific antibody is the starting point; the true long-term vision lies in the extensible target combinations that follow.

The dual acceptance at AACR 2026 is a tangible demonstration of Nanolattix's technological capability. But more noteworthy than exposure at a single conference is a dual-modality technology system that has undergone preclinical and early clinical validation, features complementary mechanisms and risk diversification, and offers a clear interface for access.

It does not lack observers; what it lacks are partners capable of matching the scale of this system. And it can be anticipated that this inflection point may arrive very soon.

References:

1. First Dosing! A Chinese RDC Dark Horse Enters "No Man's Land"; E-Pharma Manager

2. Nanolattix Qu Zhican: RDC+ADC Theranostics Reshaping the Innovation Logic of Radiopharmaceuticals; The Beijing News

3. AACR Opens Next Week, ASCO Takes Over in May! Innovative Drugs Enter a Period of Intensive Catalysts; National Business Daily

4. AACR 2026: The "Golden Window" for the Global Rise of Chinese Innovative Drugs, Comprehensive Analysis of Industrial Chain Investment; Sina Finance

5. Publicly available information from Nanolattix