Nerviano Medical Sciences S.r.l. (NMS), a clinical-stage biotechnology company, signed a license agreement with Italfarmaco S.p.A. (ITF), a specialty pharmaceutical company, to develop and commercialize a novel peptide-drug conjugate (PDC).

Under the terms of the agreement, ITF will use NMS’s linker-payload technology to develop a novel PDC product candidate. NMS has implemented linker-payload GMP manufacturing and supply at a CDMO referred by NMS. ITF will be responsible for generating the target peptide and all non-clinical, clinical, and commercialization activities related to any resulting proprietary product candidates.

“NMS’s cutting-edge linker-payload technology will allow us to develop new peptide drug conjugates for the treatment of oncology indications with high unmet medical need, leveraging Italfarmaco’s state-of-the-art GMP peptide production capabilities,” said Christian Steinkühler, Italfarmaco Group’s chief scientific officer. “This is an important milestone in our mission to generate a highly diversified pipeline of innovative medicines.”

“We are pleased that ITF, a company with a long-standing heritage both from pharmaceutical and chemical sectors, has selected our linker-payload first platform for developing a truly novel peptide-drug conjugate. This is a significant step to broaden the applicability of our technology,” said Hugues Dolgos, CEO of NMS, and NMS Group.