Lotte Biologics, NJ Bio to jointly develop ADC

South Korea's Lotte Biologics Co. announced on Monday that it has signed a strategic business agreement with NJ Bio, a US-based preclinical and clinical contract research organization (CRO), to provide contract research and manufacturing services for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).

Founded in 2018, NJ Bio specializes in integrated chemistry and biological services for ADCs, including the development of linkers that connect antibodies and drugs.

Its expertise lies in specialized processes for development, analytical method development and validation, and stability studies.

Through this agreement, both companies plan to attract various new ADC clients by leveraging their expertise in key components of the ADC pipeline — payloads, linkers, antibodies, and conjugation (antibody-drug binding technology).

NJ Bio will provide Lotte Biologics with technology for ADC process development, analytical method development, linker-payload development, and synthesis.

In turn, Lotte Biologics will utilize these for preclinical research and contract manufacturing of antibodies and ADCs for clinical and commercial products.

Notably, Lotte Biologics and NJ Bio plan to jointly develop a bioconjugation process and apply it to the ADC production facility currently being expanded at the Syracuse site in the US.

This will enable the production of optimized ADC pharmaceuticals.

Meanwhile, Lotte Biologics is in the process of internalizing ADC capabilities.

In April last year, the company announced a strategic cooperation with ADC platform specialist Pinotbio, and in July, with Kanaph Therapeutics Inc.

Write to Jeong Min Nam at peux@hankyung.com