Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are one of the most actively pursued therapeutic classes in oncology due to their high specificity and potency. The conjugates have two components: an antibody allowing the delivery of drug to tumors in a highly targeted manner, and a potent cytotoxic agent to directly kill tumor cells.
Despite the high degree of specificity and potency for ADCs, there are continued challenges that limit their success:
SOTIO has four ongoing partnerships for the development of its ADC pipeline. It is developing two ADCs in partnership with NBE-Therapeutics (NBE) based on NBE’s proprietary site-specific sortase mediated antibody coupling (SMAC) conjugation platform. These ADCs utilize an anthracycline toxin called PNU, a highly potent cytotoxic agent, that leads to immunogenic cell death and elicits a long-lasting anti-tumor immune response.
The therapeutics have been designed to address the limitations of current ADCs:
In November 2021, SOTIO and LigaChem Biosciences (formerly LegoChem, LCB) entered into a multi-target exclusive collaboration and license agreement under which SOTIO obtained the rights to deploy LCB’s ADC conjugation technology, ConjuAll™, and potent linker-payload platform for up to five therapeutic programs.
SOTIO also entered a license and option agreement with Synaffix B.V., a Lonza company, in October 2023, enabling SOTIO to combine its proprietary antibodies with Synaffix’s GlycoConnect™, HydraSpace™, and potent linker-payload platforms to research, develop, manufacture and commercialize ADC products.
In July 2024, SOTIO and Biocytogen established a research collaboration and exclusive option and license agreement, granting SOTIO the option to license multiple fully human bispecific antibodies generated with Biocytogen’s proprietary RenLite® and proprietary ADC platform to develop ADCs targeting solid tumors.