Lonza, a leading contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO), and Engitix, a global leader in ECM-based drug discovery and development, have entered a licensing agreement to advance the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and deliver life-changing therapies for patients with chronic diseases.
Under the agreement, Engitix will access Lonza’s ADC technology platform through a single-target license, including the use of SYNtecan E linker-payload and complementary GlycoConnect and HydraSpace.
These technologies will support Engitix’s goal to develop and commercialize therapies. Lonza, through one of its affiliated companies, is eligible to receive upfront, clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, plus royalties on net sales of resulting products.
Lonza is responsible for manufacturing components that are related to its proprietary technologies, and Engitix is responsible for the research, development, manufacturing, and commercialisation of the ADCs.
Engitix has developed a proprietary human ECM platform that allows the study of disease biology directly in human tissue. This approach focuses on targets within the ECM itself, offering a differentiated pathway compared to traditional methods that focus on cell surface targets.
The collaboration enables Engitix to leverage Lonza’s established ADC technology platform to develop differentiated therapeutic candidates designed to selectively deliver potent payloads to tumour-selective targets identified through Engitix’s proprietary human ECM discovery platform.
The license agreement represents an important step in Engitix’s strategy to build a diversified pipeline of precision therapeutics addressing fibrosis, oncology, and other diseases driven by pathological tissue remodelling.
