Lonza in multiple ADC licences

In the first half of June, Lonza signed a raft of licensing deals with US biotechs who will use its technologies in the manufacture of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) and related drugs. This followed on from a similar agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) in May.

In each of these, Lonza will manufacture components related to its proprietary payload and linker technologies and will be eligible to receive upfront, potential milestone payments and royalty payments on net sales of the resulting products. The client will have responsibility for research, clinical development, manufacturing and commercialisation of the ADCs.

InduPro, which is developing therapeutics through the targeted proximity of cell-surface proteins, has taken a non-exclusive, worldwide licence to Lonza’s proprietary GlycoConnect antibody conjugation technology, HydraSpace polar spacer technology and exatecan-based SYNtecan TOPO1 inhibitor linker-payload technology, which enhances ADC tolerability and efficacy linker-payload technologies. It will use these to develop bispecific ADCs targeting up to two oncology antigens.

Previously, Antharis Therapeutics took out a specific licensing agreement to Lonza’s dual-payload ADC technology platform. It will combine this with its own antibody engineering and target biology capabilities to develop novel ADCs for multi-cancer applications. The initial target will be Antharis’ lead ADC programme targeting gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, which is about to enter the clinic.

Shortly before this, clinical-stage biotech AmMax Bio took a non-exclusive licence to SYNtecan. AmMax’s lead candidate, an AMB-104, combines Lonza’s technologies with its own monoclonal antibody (mAb) to deliver a tumour-targeted cytotoxic payload that kills monocytic acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. It plans to submit an IND in early 2027. AMB-104.

With Stipple Bio, Lonza has signed a multi-target licensing agreement to support the development of precision oncology ADCs. Stipple will gain target-specific access to GlycoConnect, HydraSpace and a toxSYN linker payload technology platform to design ADC products, including its lead compound STP-100. Stipple has developed the Pointillist Platform to identify tumour-specific cell surface epitopes, which enable the development of potent, high therapeutic index medicines designed to avoid on-target/off-tumour toxicity.

In the earlier deal, BMS and Lonza concluded an exclusive single-target licensing agreement giving BMS access to the SYNtecan platform to advance an ADC against an undisclosed target. As with all the deals, no terms or timelines were disclosed.