Whitehawk Starts Third ADC Trial, Widens Quarterly Loss

The Tip Desk · November 9, 2026 · 3 min read

Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments stood at $169.7 million as of September 30, 2026, with the company still anticipating funding into the second half of 2028.

Whitehawk Therapeutics, Inc. (WHWK), a clinical-stage oncology company developing antibody-drug conjugates, initiated the U.S. Phase 1 trial of HWK-206 and received FDA Fast Track designation, putting all three of its original ADC programs in the clinic within the last 12 months.

President and Chief Executive Officer Dave Lennon said the company continues to dose-escalate patients in Phase 1 studies of HWK-007 and HWK-016 and remains on track to report initial data from those programs in the first half of 2027. HWK-206, a biparatopic SEZ6-targeting ADC using the same TOP1i-linker payload as the first two programs, is being developed initially for small-cell lung cancer and other neuroendocrine tumors. Initial Phase 1 data from HWK-206 is expected by year-end 2027.

The company also submitted an Investigational New Drug application in China for HWK-206 and anticipates activating its first clinical sites there in the first quarter of 2027. The U.S. study is designed to evaluate an accelerated sequence of planned dose levels starting at 3 mg/kg, with the initial dose-escalation portion focused on patients with small-cell lung cancer.

Research and development expenses were $18.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2026, compared with $14.3 million a year earlier. Sequentially, R&D spending rose from $12.9 million in the three months ended June 30, 2026. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $4.8 million in the latest quarter, versus $5.2 million a year earlier.

Net loss widened to $21.2 million for the three months ended September 30, 2026, from $17.7 million a year earlier, or $0.23 a share versus $0.26 a share. Weighted-average basic shares outstanding were 93.9 million, compared with 69.2 million a year earlier. Interest income was $1.7 million.

Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were $169.7 million as of September 30, 2026, down from $190.0 million as of June 30, 2026. The company said cash is anticipated to fund operations into the second half of 2028 based on current plans. Additional paid-in capital was $576.7 million as of September 30, 2026, versus $489.4 million as of December 31, 2025, reflecting the May 2026 $87.5 million private placement. Accumulated deficit was $413.3 million.

Lennon said the global clinical development strategy is focused on efficiently evaluating how preclinical attributes translate in patients with small-cell lung cancer. The company said HWK-206 has demonstrated enhanced preclinical antitumor activity compared with other SEZ6-targeted ADCs.

Whitehawk presented real-world analyses supporting PTK7 as a durable ADC target in EGFR wild-type NSCLC at World Conference on Lung Cancer 2026 and MUC16 as a durable ADC target in ovarian cancer at International Gynecologic Cancer Society 2026. It appointed Vijay Iyengar, MD, a former Incyte executive, to its board.

Management will participate in investor meetings at the Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference in London, where Lennon is scheduled for a fireside chat on November 16, 2026, and at the Piper Sandler 38th Annual Healthcare Conference, where Lennon is scheduled to present a corporate overview on December 2, 2026.

The ADC assets are in-licensed from WuXi Biologics under an exclusive development and global commercialization agreement. The company’s platform leverages CPT113 as the core linker-payload technology, enhanced with its proprietary Carbon Bridge Cysteine Re-pairing bioconjugation process.