SAR-442257

Biotech investment firm Aditum Bio and China-based Leads Biolabs on Thursday announced the formation of a new company dedicated to advancing a first-in-class tri-specific T-cell engager antibody for autoimmune disorders.Oblenio Bio has secured an exclusive option to license LBL-051, a CD19xBCMAxCD3 engager designed to deplete a broader range of pathological B-cell populations across a wide spectrum of antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases, according to Leads.Immune resetEx-Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez, who co-founded and is managing director at Aditum, said that "by targeting both CD19 and BCMA in autoimmune disorders, LBL-051 has the potential to achieve a complete immune reset and superior efficacy and durability, compared to single targeting of either CD19 or BCMA alone."The tri-specific modality has emerged as a promising approach, with the companies pointing to recent clinical data from CD19 and BCMA targeted therapies showing "compelling efficacy" in hard-to-treat autoimmune diseasesDespite initial enthusiasm, bispecific T-cell engagers do not always reach sufficient efficiency since they target only one receptor on the surface of T cells. However, treatments targeting two T-cell receptors via tri-, or even tetraspecific, T-cell engagers could provide the needed costimulatory boost for T cells to work effectively.Companies such as Sanofi and Harpoon Therapeutics, which was bought earlier this year by Merck & Co. for roughly $680 million, are also working on tri-specific engagers. Harpoon's HPN217 and HPN328 are both in clinical development for myeloma and small-cell lung cancer, respectively. Sanofi's CD38/CD3xCD28 tri-specific SAR442257 is in the clinic for multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.Deal up to $614MThe agreement grants Oblenio Bio exclusive worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and commercialise LBL-051. Leads is eligible for up to $35 million in upfront and near-term payments, $579 million in milestones, plus royalties on sales.Xiaoqiang Kang, chief executive at Leads, noted that LBL-051 could eventually turn out to be "a pipeline in a product."The Chinese biotech also has a previous collaboration with BeiGene. Under that deal, signed in 2021, BeiGene obtained exclusive commercialisation rights outside China for the LAG-3 targeting asset LBL-007, while providing Leads with $30 million upfront and up to $742 million in potential milestone payments.