LegoChem Biosciences, based in Daejeon, South Korea, announced that it has entered a research collaboration and license agreement with Iksuda Therapeutics (“Iksuda”) for the development of antibody-drug conjugates in oncology.
Iksuda gains certain rights to LCB’s antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology, ConjuALL, including LCB’s cancer-selectively activated payloads as well as its proprietary linker and conjugation platform, to research, develop and commercialize targeted anti-cancer therapeutics. Under the terms of the agreement, Iksuda has the rights to use the LCB technology to develop therapeutics directed to up to three undisclosed targets.
LCB will receive development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments of up to $407.25 million as well as royalties on the sales of any resulting ADC products. In addition, LCB is eligible to receive a prearranged percentage of sublicense revenue if Iksuda enters into a license agreement with third party companies.
Iksuda, a UK-based biotech company established in 2012, is focusing on the development of novel ADC therapeutics. Iksuda has built up a world-class R&D team including Dr. Robert Lutz, CSO of Iksuda, who is a global ADC expert and has significantly contributed to the successful development and commercialization of a blockbuster drug, Kadcyla as well as several other ADC therapeutics when he was at Immunogen.
“We plan to advance ADC products from this partnership to clinical stage as quickly as possible,” said Dr. David Simpson, the CEO of Iksuda. “This collaboration will allow us to leverage LCB’s next-generation linker and payload platform and combining it with our expertise and capabilities in ADC development will enable success.”
“We are pleased to collaborate with Iksuda given its experience and expertise in ADC research and development. This agreement highlights that not only is LCB delivering unique, differentiated linker technology, but great potential and wide applicability of our proprietary payload, is also now endorsed by global experts from Iksuda,” said Dr. Yong-Zu Kim, the CEO & President of LCB. “Our goal is to demonstrate the competitiveness of LegoChem Bio in human trials in a most efficient way by applying our ADC platform to Iksuda’s pipelines.”
