Prostate cancer can be treated with targeted therapies, but there are still opportunities to improve on this approach. MultiValent Biotherapies is going after two validated cancer targets with a single drug. With this program on track to begin a U.S. clinical trial, the startup on Tuesday revealed its lead drug candidate along with $27 million in fresh financing.
MultiValent aims to overcome some of the limitations of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), one of the more active areas of research for targeted cancer therapies. The targeting ability of an ADC comes from the antibody, a large molecule that faces challenges penetrating solid tumors. MultiValent’s drug doesn’t use a targeting antibody.
Los Altos, California-based MultiValent describes its drug, MVB-101, as a “bivalent peptide-like drug conjugate” that’s about 1/50th the size of a traditional ADC. Compared to ADCs, the company says the smaller size of MVB-101 should enable faster diffusion into the tumor. But MultiValent’s drug has some similarities to ADCs. Its toxic drug payload is monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE), a compound that works by interfering with cell replication. MMAE is the cancer-killing agent in several ADCs, including Roche’s Polivy and the Pfizer and Takeda Pharmaceutical product Adcetris. But there are are currently no FDA-approved ADCs for prostate cancer.
MVB-101 goes after two validated cancer targets, PSMA and folate receptor alpha. While there are products that go after each target separately, none of the available cancer therapies go after both. Heterogeneity, the variations among tumor cells, presents challenges for binding a cancer drug. In a prepared statement, MultiValent Chief Scientific Officer Bruce Keyt said the dual targeting offered by MVB-101 is designed to provide better binding against heterogeneous tumor cells.
MultiValent licensed MVB-101 from China-based Coherent Biopharma. Under the terms of that deal, MultiValent gained exclusive global rights to the drug outside of greater China. Coherent received an equity stake in MultiValent and an upfront cash payment. Financial details of the equity stake and the upfront and potential milestone payments were not disclosed.
The Coherent pipeline lists a folate receptor alpha- and PSMA-targeting program, CBP-1018, in Phase 1 testing for metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer that has metastasized to the bones. According to Coherent’s website, this drug is the second one from the company’s Bi-XDX platform, its cellular targeting technology.
Data for CBP-1018, from a 59-patient Phase 1 study conducted in China, were presented at the 2024 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Results showed the study drug was safe and well tolerated with no dose-limiting toxicities observed and no drug-related deaths. Among all metastatic castration-resistant patients who were evaluable, median radiographic progression-free survival was 9.2 months.
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MultiValent said its new capital is the first closing of a Series A financing, so more investors may join the round later. No investors for the first closing were disclosed. With the money raised so far, MultiValent said it plans to advance MVB-101 to a U.S. Phase 1b/2a clinical trial. expected to start in the third quarter of this year. The company said this trial will evaluate a subgroup of prostate cancer patients. MultiValent provided no details about this subgroup.
Public domain image by the Nataional Cancer Institute