Korean biotech startup signs license deal with US firm

South Korea's biotech startup Novelty Nobility Inc. has signed a global license agreement for its antibody treatment candidate with a US biopharmaceutical company.

Novelty Nobility said on Feb. 16 that it has agreed on the exclusive technology transfer of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) candidate, dubbed VB517, with ValenzaBio Inc., which also secured its global commercialization rights.

Under the terms of the agreement, Novelty Nobility received an advance payment from ValenzaBio. The Korean startup, founded in 2017, is also eligible to receive sales royalties and additional pay, based on the achievement of the treatment's development and commercialization milestones.

The company declined to disclose the financial details of the agreement.

Maryland-based ValenzaBio plans to begin clinical studies of VB517 in 2023 as a treatment of chronic urticaria, a skin disease.

VB517 is an antibody treatment candidate for mast cell-driven autoimmune diseases. Mast cells are potent inducers of inflammatory diseases.

Novelty Nobility Chief Financial Officer Jin Cho said in a statement that his company had received several requests from US firms to transfer the technology of VB517, after the US-based Celldex Therapeutics Inc. achieved a 95% success rate in clinical trials for a single dose of a similar treatment candidate.

“We are thrilled to expand our pipeline of mAb therapeutics for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases with the addition of VB517,” William Bonificio, Ph.D., chief strategy officer of ValenzaBio, said in the joint statement.

ValenzaBio is a private biopharmaceutical company specializing in therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. It is expanding its pipeline into monoclonal antibodies.

Novelty Nobility is also developing an ocular disease treatment and an anticancer drug.

(Amended on March 15 to remove the financial details of the license agreement at the request of the Korean company)

Write to Ju-Hyun Lee at deep@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article