DEBIOPHARM
Debiopharm (www.debiopharm.com), a privately-owned, Swiss-based, biopharmaceutical company aiming to establish tomorrow’s standard-of-care to cure cancer and infectious diseases, today announced the signing of an exclusive licensing agreement with Genome & Company (http://genomecom.co.kr/), a publicly-traded, South Korea-based, biotechnology company focusing on discovery and development of novel target antibody therapeutics, for the development of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) with first-in-class potential. The agreement offers Debiopharm exclusive global rights to develop ADCs combining specific Genome and Company antibodies with Debiopharm’s innovative linker technology, Multilink™, to create highly innovative therapeutic agents to outsmart hard-to-treat cancers.
ADCs are cutting-edge oncology therapeutics that combine three components: a monoclonal antibody, a stable linker and one or more potent cytotoxic payload. These targeted compounds identify and dock onto specific antigens on cancer cell surfaces and promote targeted delivery of toxic payloads to antigen-expressing cancer cells. This modality improves therapeutic effectiveness while diminishing systemic toxicity and side effects typically associated with conventional cancer treatments. This distinctive capacity to selectively eliminate cancer cells while preserving healthy tissues has granted visibility to ADCs within the pharmaceutical development community. With the ever-growing interest in ADC development, linker design has increasingly become a critical determining factor, as few linkers provide satisfactory stability required for specific and effective drug release.1
“Building on our fruitful collaboration with Genome & Company, the potential of developing this novel antibody family with our proprietary MultilinkTM cleavable linker technology is an exciting opportunity. We recognized that Genome’s innovative antibodies were the right fit for our development focus due to the novelty of the target and its expression in tumor types with high unmet needs” expressed Frederic Levy, Chief Scientific Officer. “This extended collaboration with Genome & Company’s antibody against a novel target represents our commitment to form strategic partnerships for the development of first-in-class and best-in-class ADCs leveraging our proprietary Multilink™ technology, offering unique linker characteristics that grant a higher stability and DAR, thereby optimizing treatment specificity and effectiveness.”
Debiopharm is focused on further expanding their ADC platform, exploring proprietary novel bispecific ADCs and potential game changing technologies such as novel payloads, dual payloads, and degraders, leveraging their solid drug development experience to accelerate ADC products to patients.
“This agreement represents our first out-license deal in the field of novel target anti-cancer therapy of Genome & Company, and we were able to achieve meaningful results in early preclinical stage based on our excellent research and development capabilities,” commented Yoo Seok Hong, CEO of Genome & Company. “We expect to show results from our subsequent pipeline of novel target anti-cancer drugs in the near future, leveraging this license deal.”
About Multilink™
Multilink™ is a new cleavable linker platform suited for multidrug attachment and compatible with any conjugation technology to produce ADCs with high DAR (drug-to-antibody ratio). This unique and innovative technology allows the loading of multiple payloads on an antibody for an enhanced therapeutic effect. This highly effective and well-tolerated linker platform is available for use by other specialty biotech or pharmaceutical companies to generate proprietary, clinical-stage ADCs.
Debiopharm’s ADC Portfolio
Our ADC portfolio consists of carefully selected targets with 1st-in-class or best-in-class potential, including Debio 1562M, a CD37-targeted ADC for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and Debio 0532, an HER3-targeted ADC for solid tumors. Key partnerships also comprise options to in-licence bispecific antibodies targeting HER2-HER3 and HER3-EGFR along with other further undisclosed targets. Our ADCs are designed with MultiLinkTM proprietary cleavable linker technology, allowing both high DAR and high stability. Debio 1562M, the CD37 ADC with a novel DM1 derivative payload, represents our most advanced program, expected to reach the clinic in 2025. We are continuing to invest in our ADC platform, exploring potential game changing technologies such as novel and dual payloads or degraders, leveraging our solid development experience to accelerate ADC products to patients.
About Genome & Company
Genome & Company is a South Korean-based biotechnology company specializing in discovery and development of novel cancer target antibodies as stand-alone therapy and antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) applications. The company leverages its GNOCLE™ drug discovery and development platform, a unique bed-to-bench approach based on real-world clinical data. For more information, please refer to our website http://www.genomecom.co.kr
About Debiopharm
Debiopharm develops innovative therapies that target high unmet medical needs in oncology and infectious diseases. Bridging the gap between disruptive discovery products and international patient reach, we identify high-potential compounds and technologies for in-licensing, clinically demonstrate their safety and efficacy and then select large pharmaceutical commercialization partners to maximize patient access globally.
Visit us www.debiopharm.com
Follow us on X @DebiopharmNews at http://twitter.com/DebiopharmNews
Follow us on LinkedIn
References:
- Zheng Su et al. Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B 2021;11(12):3889e3907
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240603093689/en/
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Enginzyme and AGC Create Scalable Process for Key mRNA Ingredient12.1.2026 06:00:00 CET | Press release
At the mRNA Health conference in Berlin, enginzyme and AGC Inc. presented a scalable process to produce a key mRNA vaccine and therapy ingredient, N1-methylpseudouridine-5'-triphosphate (m¹ΨTP). The rapid growth of mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics has driven significant demand for modified nucleotides like m¹ΨTP, which enhances mRNA stability and expression, while reducing immunogenicity. Enginzyme is a deep-tech company delivering optimized biomanufacturing solutions through cell-free enzyme engineering technology. AGC Inc. is a leading global player in fields spanning from architectural glass to chemicals and life science. AGC Inc. provides services in a wide range of life science fields, from synthetic pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals, to biopharmaceuticals and leading-edge cell and gene therapies, as well as messenger RNAs. The presentation in November detailed the latest collaboration between the companies, with a focus on the biomanufacturing of nucleotides for mRNA therapy,
Ant International Partners with Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol to Expand AI Capabilities12.1.2026 02:15:00 CET | Press release
Ant International, a leading global payment, digitisation, and financial technology provider, is collaborating on the launch of Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), a new open standard for agentic commerce that works across the entire shopping journey — from discovery and buying to post-purchase support. UCP establishes a common language for agents and systems to operate together across consumer surfaces, businesses, and payment providers to enable commerce. So instead of requiring unique connections for every individual agent, UCP enables all agents to interact easily. UCP is built to work across verticals and is compatible with existing industry protocols like Agent2Agent (A2A), Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), and Model Context Protocol (MCP). “For agentic commerce to scale, it’s critical for the industry to align on a common set of standards. We are proud to have Ant International endorse the Universal Commerce Protocol as the foundation for that future,” said Ashish Gupta, VP
Torq Secures $140M Series D at $1.2B Valuation to Lead the AI SOC and Agentic AI Era11.1.2026 17:59:00 CET | Press release
Fueled by Massive Customer Adoption of AI Agents, Torq Scales the World’s First True AI SOC Platform and Accelerates Expansion into the U.S. Federal Market Torq, the established Agentic AI security operations pioneer, today announced it has closed a massive $140 million Series D funding round, propelling its valuation to $1.2 billion and total funding to $332M. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112510774/en/ Led by Merlin Ventures—a leading cybersecurity fund renowned for its deep access to the U.S. commercial and Public Sector markets—with participation from all existing investors, including Evolution Equity Partners, Notable Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Insight Ventures Partners, and Greenfield Partners, this capital injection is a definitive investment in the future of security. Torq is driving the industry’s critical shift: the complete transformation of the Security Operations Center (SOC) through
Andersen udvider sine kompetencer med tilføjelsen af Scimitar9.1.2026 21:44:00 CET | Pressemeddelelse
Andersen Consulting har indgået en samarbejdsaftale med Scimitar, der er et firma med fokus på at accelerere innovation i biovidenskabsbranchen. Scimitar, der har hovedkvarter i USA, et førende konsulenthus inden for strategieksekvering for biovidenskabsbranchen. Virksomheden er specialiseret i design af driftsmodeller, digital transformation og organisatorisk forandring. Scimitar samarbejder med medicinal- og biotech-virksomheder om at accelerere innovation, styrke den driftsmæssige eksekvering og sikre compliance gennem hele produkters livscyklus. Deres praktiske og samarbejdsorienterede tilgang sikrer løsninger, der ikke blot er formålstjenlige, men også skalerbare. "Virksomheder inden for biovidenskabsbranchen befinder sig i en tid med hurtige videnskabelige fremskridt, stigende regulatorisk kompleksitet og et voksende behov for operationel agilitet, samtidig med at de holdes op mod de højeste standarder for patientsikkerhed og dataintegritet," udtaler Ramy Khalil, CEO i Scimitar.
Biocytogen and Acepodia Expand Collaboration Through Option-based Evaluation Framework for First-in-Class Bispecific and Dual-Payload ADCs (BsAD2C)9.1.2026 13:00:00 CET | Press release
Expanded collaboration builds on Acepodia and Biocytogen’s recent co-development efforts to evaluate selected bispecific antibody and dual-payload ADC programs Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (Biocytogen, SSE: 688796; HKEX: 02315) and Acepodia (6976:TT), today announced that the companies have entered into an option and license agreement designed to enable the structured evaluation of bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (BsADC) programs to further advance the development of dual-payload bispecific antibody-drug conjugates (BsAD2Cs). The agreement grants Acepodia an option to obtain an exclusive worldwide license from Biocytogen for two BsADC programs. Under the terms of the agreement, Biocytogen is eligible to receive an upfront option fee and, upon Acepodia’s exercise of the option, additional payments including option exercise fees, development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, as well as royalties on future product sales. The financial terms of the agreem
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom