Biocytogen Licenses Human Antibodies to SOTIO for New Colorectal Cancer ADC SOT109

Biocytogen, a global biotechnology company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX: 02315), has announced a licensing agreement with SOTIO Biotech, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is part of PPF Group. The agreement centers on the development of an innovative antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) aimed at a novel tumor antigen. This collaboration will support the advancement of SOT109, SOTIO's promising ADC candidate, which targets colorectal cancer and other gastrointestinal cancers.

Biocytogen's proprietary RenMice® technology provides a vast array of fully human antibodies, focusing on over 1,000 antigens and boasting more than 400,000 ready-to-use antibody sequences. The RenMab™ platform is specifically designed to produce high-quality monoclonal antibodies with robust immune responses, high affinity, and specificity. This technology eliminates the need for additional humanization processes, thereby saving significant time and cost in the development of bispecific, multispecific antibodies, and ADC therapies.

Dr. Yuelei Shen, President and CEO of Biocytogen, expressed excitement over the progress made in collaboration with SOTIO. He highlighted the superior binding and internalization capabilities of the fully human monoclonal antibodies developed using the RenMab™ platform. By integrating Synaffix's platform with SOTIO’s expertise in ADC development, SOT109 emerges as a highly promising candidate, offering a new therapeutic option for colorectal and other GI cancers.

Dr. Martin Steegmaier, Chief Scientific Officer of SOTIO, emphasized the transformative potential of SOT109 for treating colorectal cancer and other gastrointestinal cancers. He acknowledged the collaboration with Biocytogen as pivotal in identifying a fully human and selective monoclonal antibody candidate. This candidate exhibits excellent cross-species reactivity, binding affinity, and internalization properties. SOTIO is currently in the final stages of clinical candidate selection, with plans to commence Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling studies shortly.

As part of the agreement terms, SOTIO will pay Biocytogen an option exercise fee at the time of license execution. Additionally, Biocytogen will receive success-dependent development and regulatory milestone payments, commercial milestone payments, and low single-digit royalties on net sales.

Biocytogen is renowned for its innovative technologies driving the development of novel antibody-based drugs. Established on gene editing technology, Biocytogen leverages its engineered RenMice® platforms for the discovery of fully human monoclonal, bispecific, multispecific antibodies, bispecific antibody-drug conjugates, nanobodies, and TCR-mimic antibodies. The company has established a vast off-the-shelf library of over 400,000 fully human antibody sequences against approximately 1,000 targets, fostering global collaborations. Their pioneering work includes drug target knock-in humanized models for preclinical research, along with a wide range of preclinical pharmacology and gene-editing services.

SOTIO Biotech is dedicated to developing next-generation cancer treatments. The company's pipeline includes mono- and bispecific solid tumor ADC programs at various preclinical stages. SOTIO also conducts two clinical-stage programs: BOXR1030, a metabolically enhanced CAR-T cell therapy targeting GPC3-expressing tumors, and SOT201, a next-generation PD-1-targeting immunocytokine. As a member of the PPF Group, SOTIO Biotech is committed to advancing targeted cancer therapies from scientific innovation to patient benefit.