Hummingbird Bioscience and Synaffix Enter License Agreement to Develop a Next Generation Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC) Program

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Jan 04, 2023, 14:15 ET

Synaffix to provide Hummingbird Bioscience access to proprietary ADC technologies
Synaffix to receive up to $150m in upfront and milestone payments plus royalties

AMSTERDAM, SAN FRANCISCO, HOUSTON and SINGAPORE, Jan. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Synaffix B.V. (Synaffix), a biotechnology company focused on commercializing its clinical-stage platform technology for the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with best-in-class therapeutic index, and Hummingbird Bioscience (Hummingbird Bio), a data-driven precision biotherapeutics company using its Rational Antibody Discovery (RAD) platform to discover and engineer antibodies against optimal yet elusive epitopes, thereby unlocking novel mechanisms of action, today announced that they entered into a licensing agreement that will enable Hummingbird Bio to develop a next generation ADC program using Synaffix technology.

Under the terms of the agreement, Synaffix will be eligible to receive up to $150 million, including upfront and milestone payments, plus royalties on net sales. For the target licensed, Hummingbird Bio is granted rights to utilize Synaffix proprietary ADC technologies GlycoConnect™ and HydraSpace™, in combination with select toxSYN™ linker-payloads.

Peter van de Sande, Chief Executive Officer of Synaffix, said: "We are pleased to once again be able to strengthen a partner's pipeline with our innovative ADC technologies. By combining our cutting-edge ADC technology platform with Hummingbird Bio's next-generation portfolio of precision therapeutics we can further contribute towards the transformation of cancer treatment."

"Hummingbird Bio's RAD platform generates high affinity antibodies against unique epitopes on hard targets, potentially unlocking novel mechanisms of action. We believe that, by combining Synaffix's ADC technologies with our antibodies, we have the potential to create best-in-class ADCs." said Piers Ingram, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Hummingbird Bio. "We are excited by the potential of this partnership and look forward to sharing additional updates on our ADC efforts throughout 2023."

About Hummingbird Bioscience

Hummingbird Bioscience is a data-driven precision biotherapeutics company discovering and developing transformative biologic medicines for hard-to-treat diseases. The Hummingbird Bioscience model combines computational and systems biology with wet lab drug discovery in a multi-disciplinary, collaborative environment spanning initial discovery through clinical development. We harness this integrated approach across target identification and patient selection, enabling our team to increase the efficiency of translating novel scientific insights while reducing the inherent risk in drug discovery and development. We are currently developing two clinical-stage assets: HMBD-001, a humanized anti-HER3 monoclonal antibody targeting a novel epitope on HER3, and HMBD-002, a humanized anti-VISTA IgG4 monoclonal antibody. Both programs are currently in Phase 1 studies. At Hummingbird Bioscience, our commitment to rigorous science, teamwork and intellectual integrity underpins our passion to accelerate the journey of new drugs from concept to clinic.

Hummingbird Bioscience uses its proprietary Rational Antibody Discovery platform, to discover and engineer precision therapies against optimal yet elusive epitopes that have not been successfully drugged, unlocking novel mechanisms of action.

For more information, please visit www.hummingbirdbioscience.com, and follow Hummingbird Bioscience on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

About Synaffix B.V.

Synaffix B.V. is a biotechnology company that enables ADC product candidates using its clinical-stage, site-specific ADC technology platform based on GlycoConnect™, HydraSpace™ and toxSYN™, that together enable any company with an antibody to develop proprietary best-in-class ADC products under a single license from Synaffix.

The Synaffix platform enables a rapid timeline to clinic due to the established supply chain of technology components. Granted patents covering Synaffix' technology provide end-to-end protection of the manufacturing technology as well as the resulting products through at least 2035. The business model of Synaffix is target-specific technology out-licensing, as exemplified through its existing deals with ADC Therapeutics, Mersana Therapeutics, Shanghai Miracogen, Innovent Biologics, ProfoundBio, Kyowa Kirin, Genmab, Macrogenics and Emergence Therapeutics.

Synaffix is backed by a top tier, life science-focused investor syndicate that includes Aravis, BioGeneration Ventures, BOM Capital and M Ventures.

For more information, please visit the website at https://synaffix.com/.

About The Synaffix ADC Platform Technology

Synaffix' proprietary ADC technology platform consists of GlycoConnect™, HydraSpace™ and toxSYN™ technologies. These technologies are aimed at enabling best-in-class ADCs from any antibody, with significantly enhanced efficacy and tolerability.

GlycoConnect™ is a clinical-stage conjugation technology that exploits the native antibody glycan for site-specific and stable payload attachment and is tunable to DAR1, DAR2 or DAR4 formats. HydraSpace™ is a clinical-stage compact and highly polar spacer technology that is designed to further enhance therapeutic index, particularly with hydrophobic payloads. toxSYN™ is a linker-payload platform that spans key, validated MOAs for ADC product development, including SYNtecan E™ and SYNeamicin G™, among other linker-payloads.

The combination of these three technologies provides developers with a "one stop" and easy-to-use ADC technology platform, allowing any antibody developer to develop its own proprietary ADC and any ADC developer to expand its pipeline further and increase its competitive position.

SOURCE Synaffix