Securing Novel Drug Candidates for Autoimmune Diseases
Celltrion announced on November 4 that it has signed an exclusive license agreement with Kaijin, a biotech company based in Maryland, USA, for two antibody-based novel drug candidates for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
Kaijin is a biotech company specializing in the development of multi-antibody new drugs utilizing its PDEGTM platform, a technology that degrades pathogenic autoantibodies. The company has been recognized for its achievements in discovering next-generation therapies in the field of autoimmune diseases.
Under the agreement, Celltrion has secured the exclusive global development and commercialization rights for KG006, Kaijin’s preclinical pipeline, excluding China and Japan, as well as the exclusive global development, manufacturing, and commercialization rights for KG002 worldwide.
The total contract value amounts to up to approximately 1.062 trillion won, including an upfront payment of about 11.4 billion won, development milestone payments of up to about 158.4 billion won, and sales milestone payments of up to about 892.1 billion won (upon achieving cumulative net sales of 5.7096 trillion won).
The candidate substances secured by Celltrion are autoimmune disease therapeutics based on the fetal Fc receptor (FcRn) mechanism. FcRn is a receptor protein that binds to immunoglobulin G (IgG) in the body, allowing them to be recycled instead of being degraded in intracellular organelles, thereby helping to maintain the immune system. By utilizing this mechanism, it is possible to effectively eliminate pathogenic autoantibodies that cause diseases such as autoimmune disorders, making it a promising next-generation therapeutic strategy.
In particular, FcRn inhibitors are emerging as a next-generation mechanism for treating autoimmune diseases following TNF-α inhibitors and interleukin (IL) inhibitors. They are highly regarded for their potential to expand into various indications and their growth prospects.
Celltrion has already demonstrated its competitiveness by developing and supplying numerous biosimilars for autoimmune diseases, such as TNF-α and IL inhibitors, to the global market. Building on its accumulated technology and expertise, the company plans to accelerate the development of FcRn inhibitors as well.
A Celltrion official stated, "With the acquisition of two new candidate substances, Celltrion is now entering the development of new drugs in the field of autoimmune disease therapeutics, where we already have strengths. This is expected to further strengthen our leadership as a new drug developer. We will do our utmost to address unmet medical needs while expanding our competitiveness and influence in the global pharmaceutical market."
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