Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. ("Biocytogen", HKEX: 02315), a global biotech company focusing on the discovery of novel antibody therapeutics, today announces an antibody evaluation, option and license agreement with Myricx Bio (‘Myricx’), a UK biotech company focusing on the discovery and development of a completely novel class of selective cytotoxic payloads for antibody drug conjugates (ADCs).
Under the terms of the agreement, Myricx will provide its proprietary linker and payload and Biocytogen will conjugate them with its RenMice®-derived fully human antibodies to make ADCs. Biocytogen will carry out feasibility tests for these ADCs as CRO services, and upon option exercise, Myricx will be responsible for further development and commercialization. Biocytogen will receive an upfront payment and, subject to exercise Biocytogen will be eligible to receive ongoing development and commercialisation milestone payments, as well as single-digit royalties on net sales.
In this project, the antibodies developed by Biocytogen were not only screened by its high specificity, cross-species reactivity, high affinity and good developabilities, but also by its high internalization activity specifically for ADC uses.
NMT is an enzyme that adds a specific lipid modification to a number of protein targets key to cancer cell survival. Myricx is developing a pipeline of ADCs to address serious unmet needs in oncology based on its NMT inhibitor (NMTi) payload chemistry platform and has demonstrated excellent preclinical efficacy and safety across multiple solid tumour associated antigens and cancer cell types.
"Thanks to Myricx recognition of our antibody assets, preclinical discovery expertise and CMC capabilities,” said by Dr. Yuelei Shen, President and CEO of Biocytogen. “Myricx is a leading expert in NMTi payloads and we believe that the combination of both companies’ strengths will result in ADC drugs with first-in-class and best-in-class potential.”
Myricx CEO Dr Robin Carr said: “We are delighted to have reached this agreement with Biocytogen with ground-breaking technology to develop novel antibodies for use in drug development. We believe that the combination of its antibody with our novel NMTi-based selective cytotoxic payloads will enable us to develop best-in-class ADCs to meet significant clinical needs in oncology. NMT inhibitors represent a novel class of ADC payloads that can be exploited as targeted therapies in cancer. Based on our positive proof of concept data we believe that ADC-NMTi offers huge potential for selective cancer cell killing via its unique mechanism of action.”
About Biocytogen
Biocytogen (HKEX: 02315) is a global biotechnology company that drives the research and development of novel antibody-based drugs with innovative technologies. Using its proprietary RenMabTM/RenLite®/RenNano® mice platforms for fully human monoclonal, bispecific/multispecific antibody and nanobody development, Biocytogen has integrated its in vivo drug efficacy screening platforms and strong clinical development expertise to streamline the entire drug development process. Biocytogen is undertaking a large-scale project to develop first-in-class and/or best-in-class antibody drugs for more than 1000 targets, known as Project Integrum (RenMiceTM HiTS Platform). As of June 30, 2023, 50 therapeutic antibody co-development/out-licensing/transfer agreements and 42 target-nominated RenMiceTM licensing projects have been established worldwide, including several partnerships with multinational pharmaceutical companies (MNCs). Biocytogen's pipeline is comprised of 10 core assets, with partnerships established for multiple clinical assets. Headquartered in Beijing, Biocytogen has branches in China (Haimen Jiangsu, Shanghai), USA (Boston, San Francisco), and Germany (Heidelberg). For more information, please visit http://en.biocytogen.com.cn.
About Myricx Bio - www.myricxbio.com
Myricx Bio (“Myricx”) is a UK biotech company focused on the discovery and development of a completely novel class of selective cytotoxic payloads for antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), based on inhibitors of N-myristoyltransferases (NMT) for the treatment of cancer.
NMT is an enzyme that adds a specific lipid modification to a number of protein targets key to cancer cell survival. Myricx is advancing a pipeline of ADCs to address serious unmet needs in oncology based on its NMT inhibitor (NMTi) payload chemistry platform and has demonstrated excellent preclinical efficacy and safety across multiple solid tumour associated antigens and cancer cell types.
Based in London, Myricx is a spin out from Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute with investment from Sofinnova Partners and Brandon Capital Partners.
Myricx Bio is the trading name of Myricx Pharma Limited.
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