Celltrion to Collaborate with US Abpro on Bispecific Antibody Cancer Drug Development

Incheon Songdo Celltrion Plant 2 Overview. / Incheon - Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] Celltrion announced on the 20th that it will jointly develop the bispecific antibody therapeutic 'ABP102' targeting HER2-positive breast cancer with the U.S. biotech company Abpro.

Through this agreement, Celltrion has acquired the global co-development and sales rights for ABP102. The development milestone payments total $10 million (approximately 13.9 billion KRW). These will be paid to the contracting party according to preclinical, clinical, and approval stages. Profits generated from commercialization or third-party technology export (license out) will be received by Abpro at rates ranging from 25% to 50%, depending on the stage. Milestones based on sales achievement during commercialization will be paid stepwise according to the occurrence criteria. Upon reaching cumulative sales of $15 billion (approximately 21 trillion KRW), up to $1.75 billion (approximately 2.43 trillion KRW) will be paid.

ABP102 is a bispecific antibody drug that links T cells with HER2 and CD3. Bispecific antibodies have the characteristic of simultaneously binding to two target cells. This provides advantages such as enhanced specificity and efficacy toward target cells compared to monoclonal antibodies. According to Roots Analysis, a pharmaceutical market research firm, the global bispecific antibody drug market size is expected to expand to $9.3 billion (approximately 13 trillion KRW) by 2030.

Abpro, established in Massachusetts, USA in 2007, is a company specializing in antibody development, focusing on bispecific antibody development and possessing its own antibody discovery platform. In addition to the ABP102 candidate being developed with Celltrion, it is developing eight pipeline candidates targeting various indications such as gastric cancer and liver cancer.

ABP102 also has a mechanism that induces cancer cell death by linking HER2-positive cancer cells and T cells through this platform. The company explained, "It has the advantage of maximizing specificity to cancer cells while minimizing toxicity by regulating T cell activation capability." The current development stage is pre-animal clinical trials.

Under this agreement, Celltrion will be responsible for in vivo PoC studies, process development, preclinical animal studies, clinical development, and commercialization of ABP102. Abpro will handle substance development, candidate selection, and cell efficacy experiments.

If ABP102 is successfully developed, Celltrion is expected to secure a new drug following its self-developed 'Herzuma,' a biosimilar of 'Herceptin' (a bio-pharmaceutical copy drug) for HER2-positive breast and gastric cancers, thereby further strengthening its existing antibody therapy-centered anticancer drug portfolio.

Along with the joint development contract, Celltrion will also make an additional equity investment. The equity investment was decided considering not only the development of the candidate substance but also the future commercialization of the candidate and collaboration on various projects.

A Celltrion official stated, "Both companies plan to focus on therapeutic development by maximizing each other's strengths and know-how toward the shared goal of bispecific antibody anticancer drugs," adding, "Celltrion will continue to secure new future growth engines such as bispecific antibody therapeutics through expanded partnerships and investments with promising overseas biotechs like Abpro."