TAMPA – October 29, 2026 -- Akari Therapeutics (Nasdaq: AKTX) will present its PH1 antibody drug conjugate (ADC) payload at five oncology, ADC and investor conferences in the United States and China during September 2026, as it looks for pharma partners and investors ahead of a planned first-in-human trial by mid-2027.
CEO Abizer Gaslightwala will deliver a keynote and featured presentations. The company says it will discuss global R&D collaboration, platform partnerships and pipeline expansion.
Akari fills a September calendar across Boston, Shanghai, WuXi and New York
The schedule runs from September 9 to September 29:
- Oncology & Immunology Innovation Partnering & Licensing Summit, Boston (September 9-10): Gaslightwala joins a panel on September 10 at 8:30 AM ET titled "Reflecting on the First Attempts with Novel Payloads & What We Are Doing Differently Now."
- H.C. Wainwright 28th Annual Global Investment Conference (September 15): The webcast starts at 9:00 AM EST. Investors can request management meetings through their H.C. Wainwright representative.
- BioCon China 2026, Shanghai (September 15-16): Gaslightwala gives a keynote on September 15 from 10:45 to 11:15 AM CST on next-gen ADCs and China collaboration opportunities. He also joins a panel on global collaboration for Chinese-innovated assets from a multinational pharma perspective.
- 2026 Global XDC Innovation Conference, WuXi (September 17-19): On September 19, he presents RNA splicing-targeted payloads and new options for ADC therapy sequencing in the session on new XDC modalities.
- 5th Annual ROTH Healthcare Opportunities Conference, New York (September 29): The company will hold investor meetings only.
PH1 payload targets RNA splicing rather than microtubules or DNA
PH1 is designed to target RNA splicing. Akari contrasts it with ADCs that use traditional microtubule inhibitor or DNA-damaging payloads. The company says the mechanism is intended to induce cancer cell death while activating innate and adaptive immune responses.
Gaslightwala said the company believes "the next wave of ADC innovation will be driven in significant part by differentiated payloads."
AKTX-101 advances through IND-enabling studies toward a mid-2027 first-in-human trial
Lead candidate AKTX-101 targets Trop2. Akari has started IND-enabling studies and aims to begin its first-in-human trial by mid-2027. In preclinical studies, the company reports significant activity and prolonged survival for AKTX-101 relative to ADCs with traditional payloads, both as a single agent and with checkpoint inhibitors.
A second candidate, AKTX-102, targets CEACAM5. Akari says it is also exploring PH1 across other next-generation ADC architectures. The company reports PH1 activity against cancer cells with oncogenic drivers including KRAS, BRAF, ARV7 and FGFR3 fusions.