ProBioGen and Eucodis agree to commercialise a novel antibody drug conjugation technology
The one-step C-LiNK coupling technology will open up the development space for ADCs and represents a competitive alternative to other similar technologies
ProBioGen, a leading contract developer and manufacturer of complex glycoproteins, and Eucodis Bioscience, an expert in enzyme engineering, have announced the signing of an exclusive license agreement on C-LiNK (CTAT), an innovative, site-specific antibody drug conjugation (ADC) technology.
Under the terms of the agreement ProBioGen gains exclusive rights to commercialise Eucodis’ enzymatic C-terminal linking technology, and to offer it, together with its antibody development services, royalty-free to ADC-developing parties.
ProBioGen’s CEO, Dr Wieland Wolf, commented: ‘This agreement is an excellent match between Eucodis’ enzyme engineering expertise and ProBioGen’s therapeutic protein-optimising technologies and we look forward to positioning C-LiNK and our contract manufacturing services right in the middle of the hot ADC field.’
Dr Karl Hübler, CEO of Eucodis, explained: ‘We see a huge potential for C-LiNK in biopharma, especially in ADC development, but our expertise is engineering enzymes. Therefore, by teaming up with ProBioGen, our ADC conjugation technology will certainly get a much wider and quicker access to the community of therapeutic protein developing companies and we are convinced that our agreement with ProBioGen will result in fruitful collaborations within the industry.’
ProBioGen’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Volker Sandig, added: ‘This innovative ADC technology, which efficiently attaches any payload enzymatically via a pure peptide linker — as short as two amino acids — blends perfectly into our portfolio of robust cell line/product engineering technologies and manufacturing capabilities.’
Dr Jan Modregger, Eucodis’ Head of R&D stated: ‘Based on a trypsin variant engineered to enforce the formation of a new peptide bond, our ADC conjugation technology links toxins or other molecules to the C-terminus of either antibody chain, without disturbing the native antibody structure. The outcome is a defined drug-antibody ratio at high yields with low enzyme requirements, and it offers the flexibility to add different payloads to separate sites in future ADCs.’