Lotte Biologics announced on June 16 that it has signed a three-party memorandum of understanding (MOU) with global drug development specialist Exelixis and innovative drug development company Cana Therapeutics to build an "ADC Toolbox" for the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).
Through this agreement, the three companies plan to collaborate on the joint research and development of linkers and payloads, which are core technologies for next-generation anticancer ADCs.
Exelixis is a world-leading contract research organization (CRO) that was spun off from Takeda Pharmaceutical in Japan. By leveraging Takeda's legacy library, which contains more than 1.2 million compounds and data from over 1,000 drug development projects, Exelixis aims to discover new payload candidates that have not previously been applied to ADCs.
Cana Therapeutics plans to focus on building an innovative platform to overcome the limitations of existing linkers and payloads in ADC development.
The results of this collaboration, including the developed linkers and payloads, will be transferred to Lotte Biologics. Based on these results, the company intends to further strengthen the competitiveness of its ADC platforms, including the Soluplex Link.
Going forward, Lotte Biologics plans to offer an ADC Toolbox service that allows customers to select and utilize a variety of technologies tailored to their needs. This service is expected to be further enhanced as a one-stop platform covering everything from ADC modality research and development to GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) production.
A Lotte Biologics representative stated, "This agreement marks another step forward in building a differentiated ADC platform and toolbox. We will continue to strengthen our partnerships with these two companies to enhance ADC competitiveness in the global market and do our utmost to provide more innovative therapies to patients."
An Exelixis representative commented, "We are very pleased to establish a strategic cooperation system for the development and advancement of ADC platform technologies and services through this agreement. We will contribute to the development of innovative therapies based on our proprietary drug development platform."
A Cana Therapeutics representative added, "Through this collaboration, we will do our best to build a diverse linker and payload toolbox that can overcome the limitations of existing ADC drugs and accelerate the development of innovative new therapies."
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