The Cytomx paradox

During its 14 years of existence Cytomx has generated little in the way of convincing data from in-house projects, a fact underlined by yesterday’s failure of the group’s lead, CX-2009, in breast cancer.

Yet the probody technology on which Cytomx was built did attract considerable interest from pharma companies, and Cytomx scored deals with Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Abbvie, Amgen and Astellas. The second of those best illustrates the paradox, with Bristol effectively betting its post-Yervoy immuno-oncology strategy on a tech that appears unable to deliver what it promises to.