Aadi takes flight with new moniker: Whitehawk Therapeutics

Fresh off a pivot from commercial pharma business to preclinical biotech, Aadi Bioscience has rebranded to better match its strategic reboot. The company will henceforth be known as Whitehawk Therapeutics, it announced Tuesday. Its stock ticker will be updated accordingly: As of Wednesday, it will trade as “WHWK” on the Nasdaq, replacing the “AADI” symbol it’s held since going public in a 2021 merger with Aerpio Pharmaceuticals. The new name is aimed at better reflecting the biotech’s “evolution and focus on accelerating its portfolio of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) with speed, agility and precision,” according to the announcement. That portfolio is comprised of a trio of ADCs that Whitehawk recently licensed from WuXi Biologics and Chinese biotech Hangzhou DAC. The company announced the deal in December, when it detailed a plan to pay $44 million upfront to license the assets, offering additional commitments of up to $265 million in development milestone payments and $540 million for commercial milestones. The three ADCs, now known as HWK-007, HWK-016 and HWK-206, are being developed as potential treatments for a range of cancers including lung and ovarian cancers and neuroendocrine tumors. “By leveraging the foundation of well-established tumor biology and integrating cutting-edge technologies, our strategy is designed to address the challenges of treating the most difficult cancers efficiently and effectively,” CEO Dave Lennon, Ph.D., said in Tuesday’s announcement. The shift to preclinical development comes several years after the company formerly known as Aadi earned FDA approval for its Fyarro to treat adults with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic malignant perivascular epithelioid cell tumors. More recently, however, with a phase 2 solid tumor trial of the drug—then the only asset in Aadi’s pipeline—heading for failure last summer, the company halted the study and announced layoffs of 80% of its R&D workforce. By December, Aadi was apparently ready for a completely fresh start. In the same announcement detailing the ADC licensing deal, the company shared that it had also reached an agreement to sell off its Fyarro business and associated infrastructure, plus the Aadi name and trademark, to Japan’s Kaken Pharmaceutical. That divestment is still pending, but the proceeds are expected to fund Whitehawk’s operations through the end of 2028, it said Tuesday.