Lausanne, Switzerland, and Santiago De Compostela, Spain – January 8, 2024 – Debiopharm, a privately held Swiss biopharmaceutical company aiming to set the future standard of treatment to cure cancer and infectious diseases, today announced the option to sign an exclusive licensing agreement with SunRock Biopharma, a Galician company owned by the Xunta de Galicia through Xesgalicia. SunRock develops complex antibodies against highly invasive tumors with high clinical need and will benefit from Debiopharm’s Multilink™ technology to produce an advanced biospecific Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) targeting HER3/EGFR. This agreement builds on the partnership between the two companies, initiated in September 2023, which enabled Debiopharm to develop antibodies targeting HER2/HER3.

“At Debiopharm, we are actively pursuing opportunities to apply our proprietary conjugation technology, Multilink™, in a way that complements the licensed antibodies. Multilink™ has been designed to produce ADCs with a high drug-to-antibody ratio and excellent stability in circulation, to avoid premature drug release and increase treatment specificity and efficacy” commented Frederic Levy, Senior Executive Director, Search & Evaluation and Scientific Innovation.

In the last five years, ADCs have gained enormous momentum and have become the first-line treatment for many cancers. The success of these therapies is primarily related to the ability to chemically conjugate cytotoxic molecules with antibodies, thus combining the specificity of antibodies with the lethality of these cytotoxic agents while minimizing damage to healthy tissues.

“We are delighted to consolidate our partnership with Debiopharm. This collaboration allows us to combine our capabilities in innovative biospecific antibodies with Debiopharm’s advanced Multilink™ technology, opening new avenues to address highly invasive tumors with urgent clinical needs. It is a significant step in our mission to deliver more effective and targeted therapies to patients” commented Laureano Simon, CEO of SunRock Biopharma.

About Multilink™

Multilink™ is a new cleavable linker conjugation platform suitable for multi-drug binding and compatible with any conjugation technology to produce ADCs with a high Drug Antibody Ratio (DAR). This unique and innovative technology enables the binding of multiple cytotoxic molecules to a single antibody for enhanced therapeutic effect. This highly effective and well-tolerated conjugation platform is available for other pharmaceutical or biotech companies to generate ADCs of their own in clinical phases.

About SunRock Biopharma

SunRock Biopharma is a biotechnology company dedicated to the development of therapeutic antibodies targeting highly invasive tumors with an urgent clinical need. SunRock has developed a unique portfolio of therapeutic antibodies and bispecific, first-in-class and best-in-class antibodies against novel targets, such as CCR9 and well-characterized targets, such as HER3. characterized, such as HER3.

About Debiopharm

Debiopharm develops innovative therapies focused on oncological and infectious diseases with high medical need. The company’s goal is to identify compounds and technologies with high potential for in-licensing, demonstrating clinical safety and efficacy, and then select large pharmaceutical companies as commercial partners, bridging the gap between disruptive product discovery and patient access globally.

Debiopharm Contact: Dawn Bonine – Head of Communications
dawn.bonine@debiopharm.com – Tel: +41 (0)21 321 01 11

For BIOGA, it is a priority to promote intersectoral collaboration between entities and to power networking activities, both national and international. If you want to know more about us, please click the following link.