The Dutch biotech company Synaffix has signed a license agreement with the Chinese ADC developer Shanghai Miracogen. The agreement is estimated to be worth up to US $ 125 million (approximately € 111 million).
Synaffix is exclusively focused on continued advancement of its clinical-stage antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology for the development of novel best-in-class ADCs.
Under the terms of the agreement, Shanghai Miracogen, a company with a clinical-stage pipeline of ADCs, has been granted non-exclusive rights to Synaffix’s proprietary GlycoConnect™ and HydraSpace™ ADC technologies for use in its next clinical candidate.
Synaffix is eligible to receive upfront and potential milestone payments that total $125 million, plus royalties. Miracogen will be responsible for the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of the ADC product while Synaffix will be responsible for the manufacturing of components that are specifically related to its proprietary GlycoConnect™ and HydraSpace™ technologies.
This agreement follows a research collaboration between the two companies which was centered around a specific drug candidate that has now been selected for clinical development.
GlycoConnect and HydraSpace
The clinical-stage GlycoConnect and HydraSpace technologies enable best-in-class ADCs with significantly enhanced efficacy and tolerability.
GlycoConnect is the conjugation technology that exploits the native glycan for site-specific and stable payload attachment. HydraSpace is the compact and highly polar spacer technology. These technologies can be applied directly to any existing antibody without any protein engineering and are compatible with all ADC payload classes.
The GlycoConnect and HydraSpace technologies help to consistently generate Antibody-drug Conjugates that are more effective and better tolerated when compared to the three major clinical-stage ADC conjugation technologies.
In addition to the company’s proprietary technologies Synaffix offers a platform with toxSYN™ payloads, creating a fully complimentary technology platform that enables any company with an antibody to develop novel ADC products. This platform comes with an IND-ready CMC package to support a rapid timeline to the clinic.
Granted patents covering Synaffix’s technology provide end-to-end protection of the platform technology as well as resulting products through at least 2035. The business model of Synaffix is target-specific technology out-licensing as exemplified through deals with ADC Therapeutics and Mersana Therapeutics.
Differentiating pipeline
“We believe that Synaffix’ GlycoConnect™ and HydraSpace™ technologies will further differentiate our pipeline of ADCs by delivering valuable expansion of the therapeutic index,” noted Mary Hu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Miracogen.
“Our efficient and collaborative relationship during the research phasehas provided us with a highly competitive new asset for the Miracogen pipeline in just a five-month time frame. We look forward to continuing our collaboration as we advance this candidate into the clinic and beyond to benefit cancer patients,” she added.
“Working with Miracogen has been a rewarding experience. As we transition into the development phase together, this license agreement with Miracogen provides additional validation of our GlycoConnect™ and HydraSpace™ technologies,” Peter van de Sande, Chief Executive Officer of Synaffix observed.
“There is a clear trend in China towards developing innovative products and as such, ADCs have emerged as a strong area of growth within the field of oncology. Our proprietary technologies can address the current unmet medical need for clinical candidates with an enhanced therapeutic index, thereby driving further growth of our activities in China and other markets,” Van de Sande concluded.
