ABL Bio Corporation’s bispecific antibodies, which bind two different epitopes either on the same or different targets, are being developed for immune-oncology and neurodegenerative diseases.
WuXi Biologics and ABL Bio’s agreement will see the Chinese contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) prepare up to eight bispecific antibodies for clinical trials.
Candidates will be selected from both ABL Bio’s pipeline and collaboration programmes between ABL Bio and I-Mab Biopharma.
“The partnership with WuXi Biologics is an important strategy for growing our internal and external programmes of next-generation…biologics, such as [the] bispecific antibody,” said ABL Bio CEO Sang Hoon Lee in a statement.
For WuXi Biologics, the exclusive partnership marks its first in South Korea. The CDMO is expanding internationally, with an estimated capacity of 220,000 litres planned across China, Ireland, Singapore, and the US by 2021.
Earlier this month, the firm broke ground on its eight drug substance manufacturing facility – located in China’s Hebei province – and announced plans to build a discovery, development and manufacturing site in the Fengxian district of Shanghai.