Synaffix B.V., a biotechnology company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Qurient Co., Ltd., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Seongnam-Si, South Korea, have entered into a licensing agreement to develop a dual-payload antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting solid tumors.
Under the agreement Synaffix will combine its exatecan-based technology with Qurient’s cyclin-dependent kinase 7 (CDK7) inhibitor to address unmet medical needs in solid tumour treatments.
Qurient obtains access to Synaffix’s ADC technology, which includes GlycoConnect antibody conjugation, HydraSpace polar spacer and exatecan-based linker-payload technologies.
Lonza will superwise the manufacturing of Synaffix technology components. Where as, Qurient will look after the research, development and commercialisation of the ADC, as well as the production of its CDK7 inhibitor.
Dual-payload ADCs focuses to deliver two cytotoxic agents with distinct mechanisms to target cancer cells, potentially improving therapeutic efficacy as well as reducing resistance to treatments. This approach could expand the range of effective therapies while minimising toxicity to healthy tissues, particularly in refractory cancer cases.
Executive Statement
According to Qurient CEO Kiyean Nam, Dual-payload ADCs represent the next frontier in targeted antibody therapeutics, and they look forward to advancing this novel combination of our CDK7 inhibitor and Synaffix’s SYNtecan linker-payload. The combination of their proprietary technology with Synaffix’s industry-leading platform has the potential to be applicable to a wider range of targets and antibodies, and they look forward to exploring those possibilities in the future.