Catalent Pharma Solutions has increased its minority investment in Redwood Bioscience. The decision was based on data generated by the SMARTag ADC platform, a precision protein-chemical engineering platform and novel toxin-linker technology developed by Redwood to enable the generation of homogeneous antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) engineered to enhance potency, safety and stability. Employing Redwood’s SMARTag ADC platform combined with Catalent’s GPEx cell line expression system, the companies recently completed a biomanufacturing Center of Excellence in Madison, WI, offering a range of analytical and fill-finish services.  
In April of last year, Catalent had acquired an exclusive license to market the SMARTag technology and has since collaborated with Redwood for the development and marketing of the technology. As part of the collaboration, Catalent took a minority equity stake in Redwood, which may increase over time and could lead to a potential acquisition.  

“The potential that we initially identified in the SMARTag technology has been borne out by the successful achievement of in vivo and in vitro proof of concept milestones, leading to our next phase of investment,” said Barry Littlejohns, president, Advanced Delivery Technologies. He added “These studies have further illustrated that our ongoing collaboration with Redwood will offer significant and differentiating value to our growing number of customers looking to develop next-generation ADC therapies.”