Sorrento Therapeutics announced that Levena has completed construction and put into operation a 25,000 square foot GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) manufacturing facility in Suzhou, China, fully dedicated to Sorrento’s antibody drug conjugate (ADC) pipeline and growing service business.
Sorrento is advancing two proprietary anti-cancer ADC product candidates into IND enabling studies, including its proprietary anti-CD38 ADC and an anti-c-MET ADC. Both proprietary anti-cancer ADC programs were generated from Sorrento’s fully human GMAB library and leverage on Levena’s proprietary site-specific conjugation chemistry (K-Lock and C-Lock ) and proprietary novel toxin payloads.
Sorrento President and CEO, Dr. Henry Ji said that ADC process development and manufacturing has historically been challenging to the industry as it requires a high level of technical expertise and specific know how. Their new plant has been designed to provide full analytical support capabilities, GMP production of toxin-linkers based on their proprietary technology and methods, as well as GMP-grade bioconjugation of the antibody to produce ADCs. The launch of this state of the art plant, in addition to our existing ADC research sites in Nanjing, China and San Diego, demonstrates Sorrento’s commitment to their ADC pharmaceutical partners as well as ensures a consistent supply for their own ADC franchise which is nearing the clinic.