Emergence Therapeutics licences Synaffix platform

Under the terms of the agreement, Dutch Synaffix will be eligible to receive up to $360m in upfront and milestone payments plus royalties on commercial sales for licencing its three platforms expected to improve the efficacy of antibody-drug conjugates in fighting cancer.

The 2010 spin-out from Radboud University in Nijmegen usesGlycoConnect^TM technology to attach up to two toxic payloads to the native glycan of a monoclonal antibody that homes in on cancer targets (dual warhead technology). In addition, the company’s HydraSpace™ technology uses novel proprietary linkers that enable even the most challenging hydrophobic payloads to be efficiently conjugated to the antibody moiety, resulting in an average drug-to-antibody ratio of about 2  or 4  – a higher average DAR has been reported to increase efficacy. SynAffix has also a proprietary reagent termed bicyclononyne that allows to use copper-free click chemistry  to optimise the second-stage conjugation of GlycoConnect technology, allowing for the versatile and rapid construction of homogeneous and stable antibody-drug conjugates without the requirement for cell line engineering.

The agreement includes the option to expand the collaboration to additional targets. It is the result of positive proof of principle data following a successful initial discovery research collaboration between the companies.  Emergence will be responsible for the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of the ADCs. According to the agreement, Synaffix will be responsible for the manufacturing of components that are specifically related to its proprietary technologies.