Pushing 5 bispecific antibody-drug conjugates at once, BioAtla aims for IND application

On July 7th, according to industry media Fierce Biotech, Biocytogen and Whitehawk Therapeutics have entered into a new collaboration. The two parties will jointly advance the research and development of bispecific antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) based on Biocytogen's proprietary antibody discovery platform.

Under the agreement, Whitehawk will evaluate five bispecific antibody molecules provided by Biocytogen and retains the option to incorporate any resulting ADC candidate into its own R&D pipeline.

As consideration for the collaboration, Biocytogen will receive an upfront payment, plus potential future milestone payments.

The core tool of this collaboration is Biocytogen's RenLite® platform, which is designed for the screening and optimization of bispecific antibodies against various target combinations, aiming to help both parties identify ADC candidate molecules with differentiated targeting potential.

In fact, Biocytogen has accumulated significant experience in assisting biotech companies with ADC discovery and development. It previously entered into a collaboration with Ideaya potentially worth up to $400 million and signed an agreement with Sotio potentially valued at $326 million.

Dr. Dave Lennon, CEO of Whitehawk, revealed that the company plans to file new ADC clinical trial applications within the next 12 to 24 months.

It is worth noting that Whitehawk has previously licensed three ADC products from WuXi Biologics and Hangzhou DAC Biotech. This new collaboration will further bolster its pipeline expansion.

Source: Yao Shi Kong

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