Lotte Biologics recently announced the signing of a strategic business agreement with NJ Bio, a U.S.-based Contract Research Organization (CRO) specializing in non-clinical and clinical contract research, to provide one-stop Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) services. Established in 2018, NJ Bio, based in New Jersey in the U.S., has facilities for the production of pharmaceuticals for Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials and has been awarded Best CRO three times in a row at the ADC World Summit, the largest conference in the ADC field.
Typically, the production of ADC pharmaceuticals requires capabilities such as ADC process development, development and validation of analytical methods, development and synthesis of linker-payloads, stability studies, preclinical and clinical production for Phases 1-3, clinical and commercial production of antibody pharmaceuticals, and commercial-scale ADC production.
Through this agreement, both companies plan to attract various new ADC clients, leveraging their respective expertise in key components of the ADC pipeline, including payload, linker, antibody, and conjugation. NJ Bio will provide Lotte Biologics with technology for ADC process development, analytical method development, and linker-payload development and synthesis. In turn, Lotte Biologics will use these technologies for preclinical research and the manufacturing of antibodies and ADCs for clinical and commercial products. Additionally, Lotte Biologics and NJ Bio will jointly develop a bio-conjugation process and apply it to the ADC production facility currently being expanded at the Syracuse site in the U.S., aiming to manufacture optimized ADC pharmaceuticals.
Meanwhile, Lotte Biologics has been actively pursuing open innovation to internalize ADC capabilities. In April last year the company established a strategic business partnership with ADC platform specialist Pinot Bio, securing the status of a primary supplier for antibody and ADC production in the ADC pipeline. In July, they announced a joint development with Kanaph Therapeutics, a domestic bio-venture, to internalize ADC technology platforms.