Catalent and Triphase Accelerator Corporation have signed a license agreement under which Triphase will obtain worldwide rights to further develop Catalent’s proprietary CD22-4AP antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), which has been developed by Catalent’s subsidiary, Redwood Bioscience, using its SMARTag technology platform.

Catalent will receive an upfront payment and has the potential to earn additional development and commercial milestone payments, plus a royalty on product sales. Triphase, which is focused on acquiring and developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, will also contract with Catalent for development, manufacturing and analytical services to support a fast path to clinic.

CD22-4AP is a novel, site-specific ADC, targeting CD22, a B-cell restricted sialoglycoprotein that is an important modulator of B-cell signaling and survival, which is expressed on 90% of B-cell malignancies. CD22 is a clinically validated ADC target with potential in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) and acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL). Catalent’s ADC, CD22-4AP, is a site-specific modified humanized antibody conjugated to a toxin payload using Catalent’s proprietary Hydrazino-Pictet-Spengler (HIPS) chemistry and proprietary 4AP linker.

Pre-clinical data has shown that this optimization of payload placement and linker composition, combined with the stability afforded by HIPS chemistry, leads to better tolerability and expanded therapeutic index.

“Given our deep experience in investigating potential treatment for blood cancers and oncology clinical drug development, it is a logical progression for us to explore other approaches for other hematologic tumors,” said Mohit Trikha, chief scientific officer, executive vice president and head of R&D, Triphase. “We believe in the potential of Catalent’s SMARTag technology and look forward to advancing CD22-4AP to clinical proof of concept studies.”

Mike Riley, vice president and general manager, Catalent Biologics, said, “Triphase has demonstrated expertise and a track record in advancing pre-clinical oncology candidates to clinical proof of concept. We look forward to leveraging Triphase’s expertise in combination with our proprietary SMARTag technology and supporting infrastructure to bring this potentially transformational treatment to patients.”