Corbus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CRBP) outlined a “catalyst-rich” 2026 at Oppenheimer’s 36th Annual Healthcare Conference, with Chief Executive Officer Yuval Cohen highlighting upcoming mid-year and late-year data readouts for the company’s two clinical-stage programs: CRB-701, a Nectin-4 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) in oncology, and CRB-913, an oral peripherally restricted CB1 inverse agonist being studied for obesity.
Company overview and 2026 focus
Cohen said Corbus is a small organization of 36 employees based in Norwood, Massachusetts, and described the pipeline as unusual because it spans two very different therapeutic areas. He emphasized that both programs generated preliminary data in late 2025 and that additional results expected in summer 2026 could be “truly exponential” rather than incremental.
CRB-701: how Corbus says it differs from PADCEV
According to Cohen, CRB-701 uses a proprietary antibody (not enfortumab) that targets a different Nectin-4 epitope and has about twice the internalization rate in vitro versus enfortumab, meaning more of the ADC is taken up by tumor cells after binding. He also said CRB-701 uses site-specific conjugation (“click” technology) resulting in a precise drug-to-antibody ratio (DAR) of 2, versus PADCEV’s older “stochastic” conjugation approach with an average DAR around 3.8.
Cohen said the outcome is a “hyper stable” ADC that holds onto MMAE more tightly, leading to lower circulating levels of free MMAE even at higher drug concentrations. He linked that to the potential for less peripheral neuropathy and skin toxicity and the ability to dose less often, while still delivering a potent anti-tumor effect.
Strategically, Cohen said Corbus is not attempting to compete directly with PADCEV in bladder cancer, citing the difficulty for a small company to challenge an established standard of care. Instead, he said the company is pursuing “empty swim lanes” in tumor types where Nectin-4 is a sensible target and where PADCEV is not a direct competitor.
CRB-701 safety and early efficacy signals
On safety, Cohen described peripheral neuropathy as a standout point of differentiation. He said Corbus’ dataset combined with its China partner’s experience totals “several hundred patients,” with “exceptionally low” levels of peripheral neuropathy and low rates of skin toxicity.
He added that Corbus “pays the price” common to stable MMAE ADCs: ocular toxicity affecting the surface of the eye, including dry eye and keratitis. He characterized these events as predictable and manageable with prophylactic eye drops, treatment as symptoms flare, and dose reductions when needed, and noted that ocular monitoring protocols are now common for ADC development. He said the company expects a more mature safety dataset mid-year and does not anticipate “drama” on the safety side.
On efficacy, Cohen said Corbus presented preliminary clinical signals at ESMO in fall 2025 in second-line head and neck cancer and second-line cervical cancer. For cervical cancer, he said the key question in the upcoming maturing dataset is durability of response. He also said Corbus can triangulate its results with data from partner CSPC (which is developing CRB-701 in bladder and cervical cancer in China) and with data from another company in China, describing the collective picture as more efficacious than the currently approved second-line ADC Tivdak and better tolerated than Tivdak.
Cohen also discussed Tivdak’s commercial performance and pricing, stating that Tivdak generated about $300 million in sales last year despite limited utilization and that the annual wholesale acquisition cost is $462,000. He and the moderator referenced Tivdak’s confirmatory study, noting chemotherapy response rates around 9.5% versus 17% for Tivdak and that durability was “several months,” with challenges in staying on therapy due to adverse events.
For head and neck cancer, Cohen said the upcoming summer 2026 update for second-line monotherapy is intended to address confirmed response rates, evolving durability, and clinically relevant subgroups. He highlighted HPV status as a key stratification, saying Genmab’s petosemtamab works well in HPV-negative patients but has more modest efficacy in HPV-positive patients. He also raised questions about treatment sequencing—specifically, how CRB-701 might fit alongside or after EGFR bispecific therapies as the competitive landscape evolves. He said Corbus expects to report frontline combination data with KEYTRUDA by the end of 2026, and that the second-line monotherapy dataset should provide “line of sight” into the frontline opportunity.
Regulatory planning: FDA discussions and trial design expectations
Cohen said Corbus expected FDA discussions to be a first-quarter 2026 event for both second-line cervical and second-line head and neck programs, with an update planned later in the quarter.
He said the company assumes the current FDA environment is less receptive to single-arm studies in cervical cancer. As a result, he described a controlled study design against physician’s choice (either chemotherapy or Tivdak, noting many patients would not receive Tivdak) with accelerated approval potentially based on objective response rate, followed by agreement with the FDA on the endpoint for full approval (overall survival or progression-free survival).
For head and neck cancer, Cohen pointed to precedent for a single controlled study versus physician’s choice, with options including chemotherapy agents such as taxanes, cetuximab, or methotrexate, and said Corbus does not plan to be “particularly creative” in its approach.
CRB-913: peripherally restricted CB1 inverse agonist in obesity
Turning to CRB-913, Cohen said the key questions are safety and magnitude of weight loss, rather than whether the mechanism can drive weight reduction. He described CRB-913 as the first “truly peripherally restricted” CB1 inverse agonist tested in humans, contrasting it with prior brain-penetrant CB1 agents that showed weight loss but carried neuropsychiatric risk.
Discussing results from a SAD/MAD study, Cohen said every patient who received CRB-913 lost weight and that weight loss approached 3% at two weeks, which he called unusual, while acknowledging the dataset is small and short-duration. He said Corbus expects to report results from a three-month study at the end of summer 2026 across multiple doses, and described that readout as potentially “transformative.”
On safety, he said Corbus’ gastrointestinal tolerability appears differentiated, and he emphasized neuropsychiatric monitoring results: in 112 patients, he said there were three cases of “subclinical anxiety,” with two occurring after participants were off the drug and one being situational. He contrasted this with a different CB1-related program he said reported 111 neuropsychiatric adverse events across 180 patients, arguing the brain exclusion strategy may be “playing beautifully.”
Asked about the competitive bar, Cohen said he did not want to predict efficacy but referenced oral GLP-1 candidate orforglipron, noting a one-year weight loss benchmark of about 10%.
About Corbus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CRBP)
Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and commercialization of therapeutic candidates for rare, life-threatening inflammatory and fibrotic diseases. The company’s lead investigational therapy, lenabasum, is a synthetic, oral cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2) agonist designed to resolve chronic inflammation by harnessing the body’s innate resolution pathways. Corbus operates by advancing small-molecule compounds through preclinical and clinical studies to address unmet medical needs in autoimmune and inflammatory disorders.
Lenabasum is currently under evaluation in a Phase 3 clinical trial for diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc) and in a Phase 2 study for cystic fibrosis–related inflammation.
