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NewsAstraZeneca is investing $2 billion in Summit Therapeutics to jointly test cancer treatments, sending Summit's shares up 23%. The two companies will combine AstraZeneca's sonesitatug vedotin with Summit's ivonescimab — a dual-blocking antibody targeting PD-1 and VEGF — for gastrointestinal and other cancers. Each company retains rights to its own drug.
AstraZeneca is writing a $2 billion check to Summit Therapeutics, and Wall Street is taking notice. Summit's shares surged 23% in premarket trading after the deal was announced, while AstraZeneca's UK-listed shares climbed 1.6% to a two-month high. Analysts called it a strategic win for both sides — Summit gets a major cash infusion and clinical muscle, while AstraZeneca fills a gap left by the recent discontinuation of its volrustomig bispecific trial.
At the heart of the deal is a combination study pairing AstraZeneca's experimental therapy sonesitatug vedotin with Summit's ivonescimab, initially targeting certain gastrointestinal cancers. Ivonescimab is a bispecific antibody that simultaneously blocks PD-1 (which helps tumors evade the immune system) and VEGF (which tumors use to grow blood vessels) — a mechanism that has attracted significant industry interest. Each company will retain development and commercial rights to their respective drugs.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: This deal signals growing industry confidence in VEGF bispecific therapies as a next frontier in oncology. For clinicians, the combination approach — targeting both immune evasion and tumor vascularization — could represent a meaningful advance in treating hard-to-treat gastrointestinal cancers, with broader combination trials also on the horizon.