INCHEON, South Korea & VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On April 8, Celltrion (KRX:068270) and the Canada-based iProgen Biotech Inc. announced to agree to partner for the development of novel ADCs against validated antibody targets, including HER21 and CD202.
The terms of the partnership agreement include: (1) Celltrion manufactures and supplies four recombinant antibodies to iProgen, among which two are HER2 and CD20 targeting, selected by Celltrion, and two additional targets to be selected by iProgen, (2) Celltrion provides supports for the Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Control (CMC) activities for the IND application and the Phase-1 clinical trial, (3) iProgen conducts the Phase-1 clinical trial using these drug candidates, and (4) upon completion of Phase 1, Celltrion has the right of first negotiation on these drug candidates for global in-licensing.
The antibodies encompassing iProgen’s proprietary delivery technology, Antibody Delivery Enhancing Domain (ADED) is expected to increase anti-tumor efficacy by enhancing the drug delivery and internalization to cancer cells. The ADED technology is applied to anti-HER2 ADCs to potentially treat not only the breast cancer patients with high levels of HER2 expression more effectively but also those with low levels with no approved targeted therapies. In addition to HER2, other tumor antigens may be therapeutically targeted by ADCs that embody this technology.
The representative of Celltrion said, “Celltrion has been searching for novel technologies that could expand the use of existing antibody therapeutics and produce biobetters and next-generation biotherapeutics, in order to bolster its pipeline outside biosimilars and small molecules,” adding that “We will keep on enriching our pipeline to include a panel of oncology drugs, as part of the effort to improve patients’ lives worldwide.”
About Celltrion, Inc.
Headquartered in Incheon, Korea, Celltrion is a leading biopharmaceutical company, specializing in research, development and manufacture of biosimilar and innovative drugs. Celltrion strives to provide more affordable biosimilar mAbs to patients who previously had limited access to advanced therapeutics. Celltrion received FDA and EC’s approval for INFLECTRA® and Remsima®, respectively, which is the world’s first mAb biosimilar to receive approval from a regulatory agency in a developed country. For more information, visit www.celltrion.com.
About iProgen Biotech
Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, iProgen Biotech is a pre-clinical stage Canadian biotechnology company. Its antibody delivery enhancing technology improves delivery and internalization of antibody drugs at targeted cancer cells.
1 HER2 is the human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 and its over-expression has been shown to play a role in the development and progression of certain aggressive types of breast cancer.
2 CD20 is an activated-glycosylated phosphoprotein expressed on the surface of all B-cells beginning at the pro-B phase and progressively increasing in concentration until maturity and found on B-cell lymphomas, hairy cell leukemia, B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and melanoma cancer stem cells.
