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- US$220.5 million License-in Agreement on WuXiBody TM Bispecific Antibody Platform and Two Types of Novel Immuno-Oncology Antibody Sequences
- Strategic Partnership with WuXi Biologics, Increasing Novel Immuno-Oncology Bispecific Antibody Pipelines
Specific to Patients Unresponsive to Anti-Pd1 and PD-L1 Therapeutics
February 25, 2018 - ABL Bio Corporation (“ABL Bio”) announced its license-in agreement with WuXi Biologics
(“WuXi Bio”) for WuXiBody TM BsAb platform and two types of novel immuno-oncology antibody sequences for
US$220.5 million. ABL Bio will pay the upfront fee and milestone payments for the development of clinical trials,
as well as regulatory and commercial milestone payments.
With this agreement, ABL Bio will acquire exclusive rights to the research & development and commercialization
of novel Bispecific Antibody (BsAb) that utilizes WuXi Bio’s BsAb platform. As the partner for WuXi Bio, ABL Bio
will adopt candidates for novel immune checkpoint inhibitors that are overexpressed among non-responsive
groups to immuno-oncology therapeutics, previously represented by PD-1 and PD-L1. With such adoption, ABL
Bio will be able to expand its pipeline, a move that is expected to help the company step up as the leader in the
global BsAb industry.
ABL Bio has confirmed in vivo the synergy effect of the combination treatment with PD-1 and PD-L1 immuno-
oncology therapy. With this result, the company will develop novel immune checkpoint inhibitor BsAb that will
overcome the limits of previous PD-1 therapeutics.
WuXiBody TM BsAb platform can assemble all the sequences of monoclonal antibodies into a dual specific
structure, while having low immunogenicity, long half-life in vitro, and superb stability. In addition, it is possible to
efficiently and expediently resolve in about 18 months the process of Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls
(CMC), which is a great challenge in the development of BsAb, thereby significantly lowering the production cost.
This platform yields 16g/L with not less than 95% purity, making it the only few ‘best-in-class’ BsAb platform in
the world.
Sang Hoon Lee, the founder and CEO of ABL Bio, said, “The reason for recent adoption of BsAb platforms by
the global big pharmas is that one BsAb platform cannot encompass all the targets.” Lee also said, “We decided
to make the adoption with the confidence that th