바이오스펙테이터

by Sungmin Kim

▲Yong-Zu Kim, President and CEO of LCB

As the year comes to a close, a big deal has finally emerged in South Korea in the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) field, which is the keyword with the most deals this year.

LegoChem Biosciences, Inc. (KOSDAQ: 141080) announced on December 22 that it has entered into a license agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc. (Janssen), a Johnson & Johnson company, to develop and commercialize LCB84, a Trop2 directed antibody drug conjugate (ADC). LCB84 is an ADC drug with four MMAE prodrugs attached as a payload(DAR=4)

With this, LegoChemBio will enter the ranks of Trop2 ADC developers, where AstraZeneca, Merck (MSD), and Gilead Sciences are fiercely competing. J&J purchased EGFR TKI 'Lasertinib' from Yuhan Corporation five years ago and continues to work to expand its presence in lung cancer.

Under the terms of the agreement, LCB will grant Janssen an exclusive, worldwide license for the development and commercialization of LCB84. LCB is eligible for up to potentially USD 1.7 billion in total consideration including an upfront payment of USD 100 million, an option exercise payment of USD 200 million as well as potential development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, plus tiered royalties on net sales.

The companies will collaborate during the ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial, with Janssen solely responsible for clinical development and commercialization after option exercise.

LCB84, a Trop2 directed ADC applying LCB’s next-generation ADC platform technology and Trop2 antibody licensed from Mediterranea Theranostic, S.r.l, is being studied in a recently initiated Phase 1/2 clinical trial in the U.S. The ADC has a distinctive targeted mechanism, binding a unique cleaved form of the Trop2 antigen (ADAM1-cleaved TROP2 isoform), which is highly expressed in cancer cells. Preclinical data demonstrated a differentiated safety and efficacy profile compared across multiple cancers, showing LCB84’s promise as a Trop2-targeting ADC.

“We are very pleased to collaborate with Janssen on LCB84, our first wholly in-house developed clinical stage ADC,” said Yong-Zu Kim, President and CEO of LCB. “We look forward to continuing to build our global clinical development capabilities and advance other ADC programs into the clinic.”  

LegoChem Biosciences is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of next-generation novel therapeutics utilizing its proprietary medicinal drug discovery technology LegoChemistry and ADC platform technology ConjuAll. Since its foundation in 2006, LCB has focused on researching and developing Antibody-Drug-Conjugates (ADCs), anticancer therapeutics, antibiotics, and anti-fibrotic based on proprietary platform technologies.