ProBio and AbTis Enter into an Exclusive Worldwide License Agreement for ADC Targeting Claudin 18.2
On December 8th, 2021, ProBio entered into a partnership with AbTis, a Korean biotechnology company dedicated to the development of antibody drug conjugate ("ADC"), to grant AbTis an exclusive, worldwide license of ProBio's anti-Claudin 18.2 monoclonal antibody ("Licensed Antibody"), to develop and commercialize the ADC. AbTis and ProBio will enter into an exclusive CDMO collaboration for the preclinical CMC development as well as clinical and commercial production of the antibodies for ADC product.
Claudin-18 is an important member of Claudin protein family, and Claudin18.2 is mainly expressed in gastric epithelial cells and highly expressed in primary malignant tumors, such as gastric, pancreatic, breast, colon and liver cancers. Claudin18.2 is now one of the most popular targets for pharmaceutical companies, especially those engaged in ADC development. ProBio team has completed antibody discovery, functional validation and cell line development for this Licensed Antibody. AbTis will continue to develop and commercialize ADC products based on the Licensed Antibody. Financial terms of the License Agreement were not disclosed.
ProBio, relying on GenScript's 17 years of R&D and manufacturing experience as well as its integrated platforms and solid platform capabilities, has provided discovery and antibody-protein drug CDMO services to global clients. The discovery platform provides clients with a one-stop solution from target to preclinical candidate for multiple modalities (monoclonal antibodies, single-domain antibodies, bispecific antibodies, CAR lead). In addition, ProBio has also entered partnerships with 3 transgenic animal platforms at home and abroad, enabling one-stop discovery service for human antibodies with its platform animals.
By flexible combination and concurrent implementation of multiple discovery campaigns (hybridoma development, single B-cell screening, and phage display technology), ProBio increases the diversity of candidate molecules, thereby bringing more chances of succeeding in obtaining preclinical molecules for the project. The discovery platform of ProBio has so far successfully delivered over 950 projects and granted 13 molecular licenses worldwide, while maintaining good relationships with its clients.
Dr. Sang Jeon Chung, CEO of AbTis said, "We are pleased to partner with ProBio, a highly specialized CDMO company with deep expertise and extensive experience in antibody discovery. We look forward to working with ProBio to help us develop the next generation of promising antibody drug conjugates for the benefit of patients, and together we will accelerate the pharmaceutical transformation and empower the future."
"We are pleased to partner with AbTis and are honored to support this promising antibody drug conjugate project," said Dr. Brian Min, CEO of ProBio. "I believe the cooperation will further show the technology and platform advantages of both parties. We will look forward to using ProBio's rich CMC development experience to get the project to IND and commercialization to benefit patients soon."
About AbTis Antibody Technology
AbTis is a biotechnology company that specializes in antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) platform technology with its own proprietary patents and its own pipelines in developments in oncology areas.
AbTis pipelines are designed to enhance the safety and efficacy of the current antibody-drug conjugates and, thus, the therapeutic index by applying AbTis linker to the mAbs. Its platform ADC linker technology is site-specific and applicable to the native antibodies, commercial antibodies, or novel antibodies under development as it requires no mutation or engineering to antibody itself. Its stable, hydrophilic and cleavable linkers can be attached to various payloads, too.
Earlier this year, AbTis successfully closed Series B round with leading Korean investors, including Stonebridge Ventures, K2 Investment Partners, Aju IB Investment, CKD Venture Capital, KDB Capital, Kingo Investment Partners, Prodigy Investment, and Timefolio Asset Management.
Under the moto of "Patients First", AbTis has been striving to advance its ADC technology and to develop its pipelines with several other antibody and payload companies. AbTis' advanced ADC technology enables partners to co-develop pipelines together in a real open innovation setting.
More information: https://www.abtis.co.kr
About ProBio
ProBio is the biologics CDMO segment of GenScript Biotech, proactively providing end-to-end service from drug discovery to commercialization with proactive strategies, professional solutions and efficient processes in antibody drug and cell and gene therapy to accelerate drug development for customers.
Toward the mission of "Innovation through Collaboration", ProBio is committed to helping customers shorten the timeline for the development of biological drugs from discovery to commercialization, significantly lowering R&D costs and building a healthier future.
More information: https://www.probiocdmo.com
