AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot told CNBC on Monday that Summit Therapeutics‘ lead drug could help power next-generation cancer treatment combinations that could be the “future of cancer care.”
Soriot’s comments in an exclusive interview with CNBC come a week after the pharmaceutical giant announced a $2 billion equity investment and clinical collaboration with the biotech company to test potential cancer drug combinations.
At the heart of that investment is Summit’s ivonescimab, which is a first-in-class bispecific antibody that works by attacking cancer through two pathways simultaneously: PD-1, which acts like a brake on immune cells, and VEGF, a signal that helps tumors grow new blood vessels.
Blocking both unleashes the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells and cuts off the blood supply that tumors need to grow.
Soriot called that medication the “next generation” after an initial wave of drugs that only target PD-1, such as
