LegoChem Biosciences Inc. (LCB) and Glycotope GmbH (Glycotope) have entered into an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement to develop an antibody drug conjugate (ADC) by combining LCB’s proprietary ADC technology with one of Glycotope’s investigational antibodies, building on a previously announced 2022 collaboration and license agreement.
Under the terms of the licensing agreement, LCB has worldwide exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the selected antibody as an ADC. Glycotope will receive an upfront payment and is eligible for clinical, regulatory and sales milestone payments, as well as royalties on net sales worldwide from LCB. Specific financial terms have not been disclosed.
“With the licensing of the antibody for the development as an ADC, we are further expanding the number of ADCs we have under development, which demonstrates our commitment to maximizing the value of our ADC payload and linker technology,” said Dr. Yong-Zu Kim, CEO & President of LCB. “We look forward to advancing the program to clinical stage.”
“We are excited by the collaboration with LCB on this ADC program”, added Henner Kollenberg, CEO of Glycotope. “Our antibody discovery platform based on protein/carbohydrate combined glyco-epitopes (GlycoTargets) is constantly expanding, and it is great to see another of our antibodies being further developed in a highly potent therapeutic setting.”
“We believe this antibody has excellent potential for the treatment of several solid tumor indications with high medical need. The continued progress of our collaboration with LCB, a leading developer of next-generation therapeutics, further highlights the importance of tumor-associated glycosylation in the treatment of cancer and underlines the strengths of our technology,” said Patrik Kehler, CSO of Glycotope.
ADCs are a type of targeted cancer medicine that deliver cytotoxic chemotherapy (“payload”) to cancer cells via a linker attached to a monoclonal antibody that binds to a specific target expressed on cancer cells. LCB’s ADC platform technologies overcome the existing limitations of ADCs by imparting a trinity of improved properties, (1) site-specific stable bioconjugation (2) cancer selective linker activation and (3) cancer-selective activation of potent payload, all of which in a significantly broader Therapeutic Window.
Glycotope’s antibodies target specific tumor-associated carbohydrate structures or protein/carbohydrate combined glyco-epitopes (GlycoTargets). Targeting these specific antigens enables broad indication range, long-term treatment potential and reduced on-target/off tumor toxicity, key elements of highly potent therapies. Based on this unrivalled tumor-specificity, Glycotope’s antibodies are highly suitable for a multi-function platform approach with independent modes of action to provide a tailored therapy format for as many patients as possible.