Adcendo ApS, a biotech company focused on the development of breakthrough antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for the treatment of cancers with high unmet medical need, expanded its current collaboration with Duality Biologics, a clinical-stage biotech company focusing on the discovery and development of next generation antibody-drug conjugate therapeutics.

In January 2023, Adcendo announced an agreement to license Duality’s proprietary DITAC (Duality Immune Toxin Antibody Conjugates) linker-payload platform for its lead uPARAP-ADC program in mesenchymal cancers. Under the new MTA and Option License Agreement, Adcendo has the opportunity to nominate ADCs against two novel ADC targets.

Based on the new agreement, new targets will be evaluated under MTA with Duality’s linker-payload platform, designed to generate ADCs with superior safety profiles, sustainable payload delivery and release in tumors, and efficient bystander killing of antigen low and negative cells. Following evaluation, Adcendo has the option to gain access to Duality’s next generation ADC platform.

Michael Pehl, CEO of Adcendo, said, “We are delighted to deepen our strategic collaboration with Duality, allowing us to progress with our aim to develop highly differentiated novel ADCs for the therapy of hard-to-treat cancers. Duality’s unique and clinically validated DITAC platform is becoming a cornerstone as we further build on our novel pipeline and continue on our way to becoming a leader in the field of ADC cancer therapy.”

John Zhu, CEO of Duality Biologics, said, “Duality is dedicated to becoming a leading next-generation ADC company. We are very glad to expand our collaboration with Adcendo on breakthrough ADC medicines and apply our platform. We believe the collaboration reflects the mutual recognition of each party’s unique strengths in ADC discovery and development and look forward to supporting the development of innovative ADC drugs.”