Lonza adds AbTis conjugation tech to its ADC toolbox

CDMO Lonza has bolsted its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology offering through the transfer of Korean biotech AbTis’ AbClick bioconjugation platform.

Swiss contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Lonza is a self-proclaimed “pioneer in bioconjugation,” having been involved in the space since 2006 and being the names third-party for the majority of the approved ADC products, as well as a wide range of other protein conjugates.

The firm has built out its network over the past few years to support greater interest in bioconjugation and is now adding AbTis’ AbClick platform to its arsenal through this collaboration – financials of which have not been divulged.

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“Lonza transferred the knowledge from AbTis to our Bioconjugates Toolbox with the goal of supporting AbTis and third-party pharmaceutical companies in the development of antibody-drug conjugates that can benefit from this bioconjugation approach,” a spokesperson from told this publication.

“The present collaboration focuses on implementing the AbClick technology into Lonza’s bioconjugation early development offering.”

AbClick is a site-selective bioconjugation technology that can bind off-the-shelf native proteins to payloads. According to the Lonza spokesperson, “this technology utilizes a cyclic peptide (AbClick Pro) that reversibly binds to a specific domain of the native antibody. The payload is attached in a separate drug conjugation step using the Click chemistry principles.”

Sang Jeon Chung, CEO of AbTis, added the platform “enables site-selective conjugation to native, off-the-shelf antibodies with stable linkers and provides improved timelines and high therapeutic indexes of the resulting ADCs.

“Through the collaboration with Lonza, drug developers will gain an opportunity to use a powerful tool to speed up the overall conjugation and development process. In addition, AbTis’ technology enables the development of ADCs with a high therapeutic index, which may directly translate into better clinical outcomes.”

In an unrelated deal back in July, AbTis selected WuXi XDC – a joint venture between WuXi Biologics and WuXi STA – as its CDMO for its own ADC products. Under terms of the deal, AbTis has access to WuXi’s services for linker and payload manufacturing, ADC conjugation process development, ADC formulation and drug product manufacturing process development, as well as drug substance and drug product manufacturing.