PolyTherics extends ThioBridge antibody drug conjugate collaboration with MacroGenics

ThioBridge™ linker to attach different payloads to a range of antibodies 

PolyTherics Limited ("PolyTherics"), a provider of technologies and services to enable the development of better biopharmaceuticals, today announced an extension to its ThioBridge™ antibody drug conjugate ("ADC") collaboration with MacroGenics Inc (NASDAQ: MGNX), a US biotechnology company developing innovative medicines utilizing its next generation antibody technologies.

PolyTherics has developed ThioBridge™ for site-specific conjugation of cytotoxic payloads to antibodies to provide more stable and less heterogeneous ADCs. MacroGenics has two antibody technology platforms, a Dual-Affinity Re-Targeting (DART™) bi-specific platform, in which a single recombinant molecule is able to target two different antigens, and Fc-optimized antibodies with improved effector function.

The collaboration was extended following the successful outcome of a research programme undertaken in 2013 under a Research Collaboration and Option Agreement, in which ThioBridge™ was used to conjugate a cytotoxic payload to a range of DART antibodies. MacroGenics and PolyTherics will collaborate in the application of its ThioBridge™ technology to a number of product candidates derived from MacroGenics' antibody platforms. MacroGenics has an option to licence the ThioBridge™ technology for the development of these product candidates and PolyTherics would receive development milestones and a single-digit percentage royalty on sales of any ThioBridge™ ADC derived from this collaboration.

John Burt, CEO of PolyTherics, commented "We are pleased with the success of our initial work with MacroGenics' antibodies and their extension of the collaboration to a wider range of antibodies and payloads endorses their support for the versatility of ThioBridge™ and its use to produce better ADCs."