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SOTIO partners with Biocytogen to expand ADC oncology pipeline

SOTIO will pay up to $325.5m in upfront and milestone payments for developing multiple bispecific antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).

Phalguni DeswalJuly 16, 2024

SOTIO Biotech has signed a research and licensing agreement with China-based Biocytogen to develop multiple bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidates for treating solid tumours.

As part of the agreement, Biocytogen will be in line to receive up to $325.5m in upfront and milestone-based payments. The company will also be eligible to receive royalties on net sales of the ADC candidates.

While both SOTIO and Biocytogen will spearhead the research phase of the bispecific ADC programmes, SOTIO will bear all other responsibilities covering non-clinical and clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialisation. The bispecific antibodies will be generated using Biocytogen’s proprietary RenLite platform, with SOTIO developing these antibodies into ADC candidates.

“[Exploiting] bispecific targeting in the context of our ADC approaches to improve precision targeting and overcome tumour heterogeneity is particularly appealing,” said Martin Steegmaier, chief scientific officer of SOTIO.

“This agreement with Biocytogen complements our existing collaborations with Synaffix, LigaChem, and NBE-Therapeutics, providing SOTIO with access to fully human antibodies from Biocytogen’s state-of-the-art in vivo discovery platform.”

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SOTIO’s clinical pipeline consists of SOT102, a Claudin-18.2-targeted ADC, which is being evaluated in a Phase I trial (NCT06163391) in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumours. Other Phase I/II candidates include BOXR1030, a metabolically-enhanced CAR-T cell therapy targeting GPC3-expressing tumours and SOT201, a PD-1-targeting immunocytokine.

ADCs have been an area of interest in recent months. In January 2024, Biocytogen partnered with Radiance Biopharma to develop a bispecific ADC. The following month, the China-based company signed a new antibody evaluation and option agreement with Gilead Sciences.

In December 2023, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine (J&J) acquired development and commercialisation rights to South Korean LegoChem Biosciences’ ADC candidate LCB84. The company will potentially pay up to $1.7bn in upfront and milestone payments.