Amsterdam-based biotech Synaffix announced this week that it has expanded its partnership with U.S. biopharma MacroGenics for the development and commercialization of monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics for cancer.
The licensing deal comes a year after their initial deal, pushing the potential payments to $2.2 billion. Under the terms of the original agreement, MacroGenics has leveraged Synaffix’s antibody-drug conjugation technologies which have been combined with its own capabilities to generate next generation ADCs. The expanded deal includes three programs from the original collaboration, but also gives MacroGenics the option to pursue up to four other ADC programs.
Synaffix’s ADC platform combines three proprietary technologies; GlycoConnect, HydraSpace and toxSYN. GlycoConnect uses the natural glycan present in antibodies to attach payloads at specific sites in a stable manner, HydraSpace is a compact and polar spacer technology which improves the therapeutic index and toxSYN is a linker-payload platform. According to Synaffix, the combination of the three technologies “provides developers with a 'one stop' and easy-to-use ADC technology platform, allowing any antibody developer to develop its own proprietary ADC and any ADC developer to expand its pipeline further and increase its competitive position.”
ADCs, designed to preferentially kill cancer cells and limit off-target toxicities, are emerging as a powerful tool across a broad range of cancers — and a hot area for investment. Yesterday, Pfizer revealed a $43 billion deal to acquire the ADC technology pioneer, Seagen. Last month, AstraZeneca inked a potential $1.1 billion deal with China-based KYM Biosciences for a potential first-in-class ADC targeting Claudin 18.2
