Catalent Pharma Solutions and Vaccinex, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, have entered an agreement to develop an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) using Catalent’s SMARTag conjugation platform and GPEx cell line engineering technologies, and Vaccinex’s ActivMAb technology to develop the ADC against an undisclosed cancer target.
 
The companies will evaluate the ADC in various preclinical models and move it into cell line and process development, using Catalent’s GPEx technology and development and manufacturing capabilities at its Madison, WI facility.
 
“Vaccinex is excited to partner with Catalent Biologics to develop this novel antibody-drug conjugate for the treatment of cancer. We feel that by combining an ActivMAb antibody with Catalent’s SMARTag conjugation technology, we can generate a unique, differentiated molecule to treat cancers overexpressing this particular target,” said Raymond E. Watkins, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Vaccinex.
 
“We are delighted to partner with an innovative company like Vaccinex to develop a product that has the potential to deliver better outcomes for patients,” said Mike Riley, vice president and general manager of Catalent Biologics. “The opportunity to leverage these complementary technology platforms provides great promise to produce a differentiated ADC product.”
 
Catalent’s SMARTag site-specific protein-modification and linker technologies were developed to enable the generation of homogenous bioconjugates engineered to enhance potency, safety and stability. The GPEx technology helps create stable, high-yielding mammalian cell lines with greater speed and efficiency.

Vaccinex’s ActivMAb antibody discovery and optimization platform combines the advantages of both viral panning and cell sorting to enable the identification of high-affinity, fully human antibodies from antibody libraries expressed in mammalian cells.