Whitehawk Data at WCLC 2026 Position PTK7 as Durable, Treatment-Agnostic ADC Target in EGFR Wild-Type NSCLC
核心洞察
Whitehawk Therapeutics (搜索) presented two real-world analyses at WCLC 2026 showing PTK7 (搜索) expression remains largely stable in EGFR wild-type lung adenocarcinoma (搜索) after standard-of-care therapy.
PTK7 (搜索) showed less treatment-associated variation than late-stage ADC targets MET, PD-L1 (搜索) and ITGB6 (搜索), and was consistent across tumors with or without other actionable genomic alterations.
A separate analysis found PTK7 (搜索) expression was not independently associated with real-world overall or progression-free survival, supporting it as a target-engagement biomarker rather than a prognostic marker.
Whitehawk Therapeutics (搜索), Inc. (Nasdaq: WHWK) reported two real-world analyses supporting protein tyrosine kinase 7 (PTK7 (搜索)) as a durable and clinically relevant antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) target in patients with pretreated, EGFR wild-type non-small cell lung cancer (搜索) (NSCLC). The data were presented at the IASLC 2026 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), hosted by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, held September 12-15, 2026, in Seoul, Republic of Korea.
In tumor samples from patients with EGFR wild-type lung adenocarcinoma (搜索), PTK7 (搜索) expression remained largely stable following standard-of-care treatments, including chemotherapy and immunotherapy, and demonstrated less treatment-associated variation than several other ADC targets in late-stage development. PTK7 expression was also generally consistent regardless of the presence or absence of other actionable genomic alterations (AGA). According to the company, these findings indicate that PTK7 remains available for targeted ADCs in patients who have progressed through multiple lines of standard-of-care therapy and across clinically relevant subgroups.
Stability Across Treatment Lines and Molecular Subgroups
The first poster, titled "Durable and Treatment-Agnostic PTK7 (搜索) Expression in EGFR Wild-Type Lung Adenocarcinoma (搜索) Supports Targeted ADC Development" (P2.241), reported that PTK7 expression remained largely stable following standard-of-care immunotherapy, chemotherapy, chemoimmunotherapy and tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment. Stable PTK7 expression was also observed in paired tumor samples.
The analysis further showed that PTK7 (搜索) demonstrated less treatment-associated variation than several late-stage ADC targets, including MET, PD-L1 (搜索) and ITGB6 (搜索). PTK7 expression was generally consistent across tumors with or without other AGA, including KRAS G12C (搜索), ALK (搜索) and MET alterations, suggesting relevance of PTK7 as an ADC target across both AGA-positive and AGA-negative NSCLC subgroups.
"Understanding whether a therapeutic target remains present after prior treatment is particularly important in advanced lung cancer, where patients often receive multiple lines of therapy," said Aaron E. Lisberg, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "The stability of PTK7 (搜索) expression across standard treatments and clinically relevant molecular subgroups supports further investigation of PTK7-directed ADCs in patients with previously treated EGFR wild-type lung adenocarcinoma (搜索)."
PTK7 as a Target-Engagement Biomarker
The second analysis, "Association Between PTK7 (搜索) Expression and Real-World Survival in Pretreated Patients With EGFR Wild-Type Lung Adenocarcinoma (搜索)" (P2.147), found that PTK7 expression was not independently associated with real-world overall survival or progression-free survival in patients with advanced EGFR wild-type lung adenocarcinoma receiving second- or later-line therapy. The company said this supports PTK7 as a target-engagement biomarker rather than a marker of prognosis.
Clinical outcomes in this population were driven primarily by established prognostic factors, including Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status and extent of prior therapy. Additionally, PTK7 (搜索)-low tumors were enriched for KEAP1 (搜索) and STK11 (搜索) alterations, suggesting biological heterogeneity of EGFR wild-type NSCLC.
"The development strategy for our PTK7 (搜索)-directed ADC, HWK-007 (搜索), is grounded in understanding not only where PTK7 is expressed, but also how that expression behaves in a real-world treatment setting," said Margaret Dugan, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Whitehawk Therapeutics (搜索). "The stability of PTK7 expression after standard of care therapies, in particular compared to other therapies in late-stage development, add important translational context as we evaluate HWK-007 in patients with EGFR wild-type NSCLC."
HWK-007 Phase 1 Development
HWK-007 (搜索) is a PTK7 (搜索)-directed, next-generation ADC being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 1 clinical trial in patients with non-squamous, EGFR wild-type NSCLC, platinum-resistant ovarian cancer (搜索) and endometrial cancer (搜索) (NCT07444814).
The analyses were conducted as part of a previously announced collaboration between Whitehawk and Tempus AI. Both posters were presented on Monday, September 14, 2026, at 10:30 AM KST, with Lisberg presenting P2.241 and Grace Dy, MD, of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, presenting P2.147. The posters will be accessible on the Presentations page of the Investors & News section of the company's website.
Platform and Portfolio
Whitehawk Therapeutics (搜索) is a clinical-stage oncology therapeutics company applying advanced technologies to established tumor biology to develop improved cancer treatments. Its portfolio includes HWK-007 (搜索), HWK-016 (搜索) and HWK-206 (搜索), ADCs engineered to overcome the limitations of first-generation predecessors for patients with difficult-to-treat cancers. These assets are in-licensed from WuXi Biologics under an exclusive development and global commercialization agreement.
The company's underlying ADC platform leverages CPT113 as the core linker-payload technology, enhanced with its proprietary Carbon Bridge Cysteine Re-pairing (CBCR) bioconjugation process to support improved stability and therapeutic index.