Araris Biotech from the canton of Zurich has entered into a collaboration agreement with the Tokyo-based Taiho Pharmaceutical Company, a research and development-driven specialty pharma company with a focus on oncology. According to a press release, Araris will use its own linker-conjugation platform to generate novel antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) against undisclosed targets. Taiho will then further test and evaluate these ADCs. The financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
Araris, which is a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute, produces the ADCs using its proprietary linker technology. This new therapeutic approach enables cytotoxic agents to be attached to antibodies using linker technology, which acts as a “Trojan horse” and delivers the drug directly to the cancerous cells in order to kill them.
“We are proud to enter into a collaboration with Taiho Pharmaceutical and look forward to working with the Taiho team to develop next-generation ADCs with improved efficacy and tolerability,” says Dr Dragan Grabulovski, Acting CEO of Araris. “This agreement underlines the potential of our linker-payload platform to deliver novel ADCs with excellent properties, and it positions our company as a highly attractive partner for pharmaceutical companies,” adds Chief Scientific Officer Dr Philipp Spycher. ce/mm
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