NEWS
Lonza in multiple ADC licences
In the first half of June, Lonza signed a raft of licensing deals with US biotechs who will use its technologies in the manufacture of antibody-drug conjugate( ADC) and related drugs. This followed on from a similar agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb( BMS) in May.
In each of these, Lonza will manufacture components related to its proprietary payload and linker technologies and will be eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties on net sales of the resulting products. The client will have responsibility for research, clinical development, manufacturing and commercialisation of the ADCs.
InduPro, which is developing therapeutics through the targeted proximity of cell-surface proteins, has taken a non-exclusive, worldwide licence to Lonza’ s proprietary GlycoConnect antibody conjugation technology, its HydraSpace polar spacer technology and its exatecanbased SYNtecan TOPO1 inhibitor linker-payload technology, which enhances ADC tolerability and efficacy linker-payload technologies. InduPro will use these to develop bispecific ADCs targeting up to two oncology antigens.
Previously, Antharis Therapeutics took out a specific licensing agreement to Lonza’ s dual-payload ADC technology platform. It will combine this with its own antibody engineering and target biology capabilities to develop novel ADCs for multi-cancer applications. The initial target will be Antharis’ lead ADC programme for gastrointestinal cancers, which is about to enter the clinic.
Shortly before this, clinical-stage biotech AmMax Bio took a nonexclusive licence to SYNtecan. AmMax’ s lead candidate, AMB-104, combines Lonza’ s technologies with its own monoclonal antibody to deliver a tumour-targeted cytotoxic payload that kills monocytic acute myeloid leukaemia cells. It plans to submit an IND in early 2027.
With Stipple Bio, Lonza has signed a multi-target licensing agreement to support the development of precision oncology ADCs. Stipple will gain target-specific access to GlycoConnect, HydraSpace and a toxSYN linker payload technology platform to design ADC products, including its lead compound STP-100. Stipple has developed the Pointillist Platform to identify tumour-specific cell surface epitopes, which enable the development of potent, high
ADC capacity at Lonza’ s main site at Visp, Switzerland therapeutic index medicines designed to avoid on-target / off-tumour toxicity. In the earlier deal, BMS and Lonza concluded an exclusive single-target licensing agreement giving BMS access to the SYNtecan platform to advance an ADC against an undisclosed target. As with all the subsequent deals, no terms or timelines were disclosed.
In line with this trend, Lonza has also announced plans to enhance its drug-linker centre of excellence and expand payload-linker manufacturing capacity at its main site at Visp, Switzerland. The expansion will establish new commercial-scale capabilities for the manufacture of HPAPIs and ADC payload-linkers and for purification, the company said. No details were disclosed about the scale of the investment.
Lonza has separately announced the expansion of a strategic collaboration with an unnamed US-based biopharmaceutical company. This will involve commercial-scale production in two biologics programmes, with the option for two more, at the company’ s sites in the US and Europe. Among the technologies to be used will be mammalian antibodies, including advanced process intensification.
6 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981