Licensing Agreement to Drive Multi-specific Biotherapeutics Development

Zhejiang Doer Biologics Co, Ltd and Lonza have entered into a research license agreement for Doer Biologics to use Lonza’s XS Technologies® offering for production of its proprietary MultipleBody® and SMART-VHHBody platform technology. Doer Biologics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of multi-domain-based, multi-specific innovative protein drugs in the fields of cancer, endocrinology, metabolic diseases, and ophthalmology. 

The license secures Doer Biologics’ access to Lonza's XS® Pichia Expression System, providing for the development of scalable, robust, and reliable expression processes. This will enable Doer Biologics to develop, express, and manufacture multi-specific VHH based biotherapeutic proteins to address unmet medical needs in the field of immuno-oncology. Doer Biologics noted early success with the Lonza XS® Pichia Expression System in their lab and are pursuing further developments.

Peter Droc, Head of Licensing and Drug Product Services, Lonza, commented: “Next-generation therapies always demand a new take on expression systems. At Lonza, we have continued developing a toolbox of expression systems that help accommodate industry trends, eliminate production bottlenecks, align downstream processing and drive breakthroughs in the clinic. Doer Biologics has innovative R&D pipelines for VHH antibodies and we believe this agreement will further accelerate their candidates from pre-clinical study to commercial manufacturing.”

Dr Yanshan Huang, founder and CEO, Zhejiang Doer Biologics Co Ltd, added: “Multi-specific biologics often show stronger potency, extended half-life, improved therapeutic window, and higher developability compared to single-target antibodies. However, designing and developing new multi-specific antibodies represents a central challenge for the realisation of new immunotherapies. Access to Lonza’s proprietary expression technology will enable us to progress our proprietary MultipleBody® and SMART-VHHBody platform by providing high-yielding processes for our candidates. We believe that we can develop high-quality VHH based multi-specific biotherapeutics in a faster and lower-cost fashion with Lonza’s XS® Pichia Expression System.”

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