SOTIO Biotech, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company owned by PPF Group, today announced the licensing of fully human antibodies from Biocytogen (HKEX: 02315), a global biotech company dedicated to discovering and developing novel antibody therapeutics. The license will be used to develop an innovative antibody drug conjugate (ADC) for a novel tumor target under the option and license agreement established between the companies. The antibody selected will support the development of SOT109, SOTIO’s new ADC candidate, for the treatment of colorectal cancer and other gastrointestinal (GI) cancers.
SOTIO’s ADC technology is designed to address the limitations of current ADCs, including improvement of precision targeting and overcoming tumor heterogeneity. SOT109, the newest program emerging from SOTIO’s ADC portfolio, is now at the clinical candidate selection stage, targeted against an undisclosed tumor antigen that is highly and homogeneously expressed in more than 90% of colorectal cancers. SOT109 has demonstrated broad preclinical activity in multiple models of colorectal cancer. SOT109 utilizes proprietary and clinically validated ADC platform technology for site-specific conjugation from Synaffix, a Lonza Group biotechnology company.
“SOT109 holds tremendous promise as a transformative treatment for colorectal cancer and other GI cancers, marking the next milestone from our innovative ADC platform. Our collaboration with Biocytogen has been instrumental in identifying a fully human and selective mAb candidate that demonstrates excellent cross-species reactivity, binding affinity, and internalization properties,” said Martin Steegmaier, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of SOTIO. “We are now in the final stages of clinical candidate selection for the program, and plan to commence IND-enabling studies this month.”
“We are thrilled to see the remarkable progress achieved through our collaboration with SOTIO,” said Yuelei Shen, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Biocytogen. “The fully human monoclonal antibodies developed using our RenMabTM platform exhibit exceptional binding and internalization capabilities, along with excellent developability. By utilizing Synaffix’s platform and combining it with SOTIO’s extensive experience in ADC development, SOT109 has been developed as a highly promising candidate, offering new hope for the treatment of colorectal and other GI cancers.”