Sotio Biotech is pushing deeper into bispecific antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), taking up its option to use Synaffix’s technology in two candidates. The Czech biotech disclosed the update on the same day as Salipro Biotech revealed a partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim.
Prague-based Sotio has built a pipeline of ADCs through deals with companies including Biocytogen, NBE-Therapeutics, LegoChem Biosciences and Synaffix. The agreements have given Sotio the right to use conjugation technology, payloads, bispecific antibodies and other technologies in ADCs. Working with its toolkit, Sotio has designed two bispecific ADCs, SOT112 and SOT113, which are ready to join the pipeline.
Lonza’s specialist ADC unit Synaffix is supporting the programs. Sotio identified the bispecific candidates, while Synaffix is providing ADC technologies including linker-payloads for use in the ADCs under the terms of an option agreement with Sotio.
SOT112 and SOT113 are now in the lead nomination stage. Sotio said SOT112 has applications in several major cancer indications, while SOT113 has shown “promise for precision targeting of prostate cancer.” The programs are built on “highly attractive target pairs,” Sotio said, but beyond that the public details are scarce. Sotio is paying an upfront fee of undisclosed size and committing to milestones and royalties.
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Boehringer, another Synaffix partner, is also in the news. The German drugmaker has struck a deal to work with Salipro to stabilize membrane proteins in their native forms. Boehringer will use the proteins to work on targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), ion channels, transporters and other integral membrane proteins in areas such as mental health and cardio-renal-metabolic diseases.
Multiple companies have developed technologies to stabilize GPCRs, a class of promising targets that lose their structure when split from the membranes they call home. The instability stops companies from finding binding sites and creates a need for technologies such as Salipro’s platform.
Sotio Biotech Synaffix B.V. Boehringer Ingelheim antibody-drug conjugates GPCR Deals Biotech