SOTIO Biotech, a clinical stage immuno-oncology company owned by PPF Group, announced an exclusive, target-specific license and option agreement with LegoChem Biosciences, a biotechnology company focused on developing its clinical-stage platform technology enabling antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with an excellent therapeutic index. SOTIO will obtain rights to deploy LCB’s ADC technology for up to five therapeutic programs targeting distinct tumour-associated antigens.

The deal enables SOTIO to combine its proprietary antibodies with LCB’s ADC technology platform in order to deliver novel therapeutics for the treatment of solid tumours and includes LCB’s proprietary conjugation technology ‘ConjuAll’ and potent linker-payload platform including multiple different payloads.

Under the terms of the multi-target agreement, LCB is eligible to receive upfront and potential milestone payments worth up to $1027.5 million, payable based on certain developments and regulatory achievements, plus royalties on net sales. The deal includes upfront and near-term milestones worth up to $29.5 million, subject to exercise of the options and achievement of success-based milestones. No further financial details were disclosed.

“At SOTIO we are building an innovative pipeline of ADC programs and plan IND filing for our lead program SOT102 by the end of 2021.  The licensing agreement with our new, experienced partner LegoChem allows us to broaden our oncology pipeline with additional programs and solid tumour targets. We are looking forward to using the potential of LegoChem’s ADC technology platform and to develop innovative ADCs for patients in need,” said Radek Spisek, M.D., Ph.D., chief executive officer of SOTIO.

SOTIO will be responsible for research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of the ADC products, while LCB will support and work closely with SOTIO for the research activities and the manufacturing of components that are specifically related to its proprietary ConjuAll and the linker-payload technologies.

Dr. Yong-Zu Kim, CEO and President of LCB added: “This collaboration is yet another example that illustrates how the value proposition of the LCB platform can increase the competitive position of our partners within the ADC space. SOTIO is an ideal partner for LCB due to its expertise and strategic focus on innovative antibody drug conjugates, and we look forward to working closely together on multiple innovative programs.”

FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific, a leader in the development and manufacture of serum-free and chemically defined cell culture media for bioproduction and cell therapy manufacturing, announced the establishment of an Innovation and Collaboration Center in Suzhou New District, China. Through this new centre, experts will collaborate with customers to design upstream cell culture processes that meet their biomanufacturing needs.

In the past decade, the world has seen rapid growth in China’s biopharmaceutical, vaccine, cell and gene therapy markets. The speed of approval of biosimilar drugs and investment by the government to make more affordable drugs available to its people is accelerating that growth. Accordingly, the market for cell culture media in China has been expanding, and it is currently expected to grow at an annual rate of about 20%. Researchers and drug manufacturers require high-performing, safe, and reliable bioprocesses to drive down the cost of therapeutics.

The Innovation and Collaboration Center will incorporate advanced cell culture automation and analysis into process and media development to enable highly accurate evaluation and identification of optimal upstream cell culture processes. Furthermore, it will provide the local resources and expertise for optimized cell culture media and associated workflows, to achieve the quantity and product quality attributes necessary to support commercial production of new drugs.

Yutaka Yamaguchi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific, General Manager Fujifilm Life Sciences Business Division, commented: “Through our proven media development expertise FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific support some of the most important global biologics commercially available today, including COVID-19 vaccines and therapies. We will continue to expand services globally to provide easier access for customers to collaborate with our scientists and bioprocessing experts, and benefit from rapid development and delivery of high-quality cell culture products and solutions.”

“We are increasing the number of sales and technical support staff throughout China to meet the development needs and support the antibody pharmaceutical industry in the growing Chinese market.”

The new centre in Suzhou will join the network of optimization services offered from FUJIFILM Irvine Scientific’s facilities in the USA and Japan. Construction has begun and is planned for completion by March, 2022.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report that a recently discovered inflammatory mediator, interleukin-26, appears to have an important role in pneumonia and contribute to the killing of bacteria. The study is published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Immunology – Microbial Immunology.

AMSBIO report that researchers from the Medical University of Vienna, have used Lipidure – CM5206 to coat channels in their novel microfluidic devices, to prevent cell adhesion.