New UK Team will develop Next-Generation Antibody-Drug Conjugates for Cancer

Glythera and IONTAS have partnered to develop next-generation antibody-drug conjugates that are less toxic and more potent against difficult-to-treat tumors.

Glythera has teamed up with antibody developer IONTAS to work on a new generation of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) drugs. As part of the agreement, IONTAS will develop new antibodies against multiple undisclosed targets, on which Glythera will have the option to exclusively develop and commercialize them as ADCs by conjugating them with its own toxins. In exchange, IONTAS will receive payments as the ADC candidates achieve key development and commercialization milestones.

Glythera is developing and testing new ultra-potent toxin classes suitable for ADCs using its PermaLink platform, which, according to the company, has already shown to generate ADCs that improve tolerability by 100% compared to existing maleimide-based ADCs in animal models.

The goal of the team is to combine both technologies and select a first clinical candidate by 2019. This might put the team in a position to join the competition of ADC Therapeutics and NBE Therapeutics, currently the leading ADC companies in Europe.

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