Lonza, Engitix Ink ADC Licensing Deal

Editor’s Take: Engitix is the latest company to tap Lonza’s platform to support the development of ADC therapies. Stipple Bio and InduPro entered similar licensing agreements earlier this year.

Lonza, a leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), and Engitix, an expert 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. It will be responsible for manufacturing components that are related to its proprietary technologies, and Engitix will be responsible for the research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of the ADCs.

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 remodeling.

The collaboration enables Engitix to leverage Lonza’s established ADC technology platform to develop differentiated therapeutic candidates designed to selectively deliver potent payloads to tumor-selective targets identified through Engitix’s proprietary human ECM discovery platform.

Dr. Giuseppe Mazza, CEO and Co-Founder, Engitix, said, “At Engitix, we are committed to translating our unique understanding of the disease microenvironment into transformative therapies for patients with high unmet medical need. Licensing Lonza’s clinically validated conjugation and linker-payload technologies provides us with a powerful toolkit to develop next-generation ECM-targeted therapeutics with the potential for enhanced efficacy, reduced toxicity and improved therapeutic index.”

Jan Vertommen, VP of Commercial Development, Advanced Synthesis, Lonza, explained, “By combining our ADC development and manufacturing expertise with Engitix’s unique ECM-based discovery platform, we aim to advance next-generation ADCs and unlock new possibilities in targeted therapies for patients.”