Debiopharm, a Swiss-based global biopharmaceutical company, and Ubix Therapeutics, a South Korea-based biotech company, announced their co-research agreement combining two novel proprietary technologies to specifically target cancer cells. The two companies are aiming to develop a new drug modality known as Antibody Degraducer Conjugates (ADeC), by combining one of Ubix's Degraducer molecule, with Debiopharm's antibody drug conjugate linker Multilink. Degraducer linked to therapeutic antibodies via Multilink will improve drug targeting and could have a synergistic effect on tumor cells, thereby resulting in improved efficacy and safety of cancer therapies.

Cancer treatment has been revolutionized by antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) as they've offered patients therapy that targets mainly cancer cells while avoiding the systemic release of cancer-killing toxic payloads, like systemic chemotherapy, throughout the body. Linkers play a critical role in the function of ADCs as they help to attach the cytotoxic payload to the antibody, stabilize the molecule during circulation, and release the toxic payload specifically into the target tissue. Multilink is a new cleavable linker platform that allows the loading of multiple drug payloads on an antibody. Degraducer is a powerful, bifunctional, inhibitor technology that enables selective protein degradation and prolonged therapeutic effects. Combining these advanced biotechnology solutions offers the unique opportunity to produce new types of antibody conjugates with dual molecular targeting. These antibody Degraducer conjugates could extend the range of therapeutic antibody conjugates available for the treatment of various cancers.

"We hope this plan to achieve a pre-clinical, proof-of-concept for antibody Degraducer  conjugates will boost the efficacy, precision and safety of antibody-based therapies and lead to clinically meaningful solutions while providing improved life quality for cancer patients," expressed Cedric Sager, CEO of Debiopharm Research & Manufacturing, "We are thrilled to collaborate with Ubix Therapeutics to understand more about the potential synergies of combining their Degraducer technology with our Multilink platform."

"We're excited to explore Antibody Degraducer Conjugates (ADeC) with Debiopharm. In particular, we're pleased to take the opportunity to combine our Degraducer technology, having superior efficacy and high selectivity, with Debiopharm's Multilink technology, having lots of advantages especially excellent potency through multiple loading capability. We believe that this collaboration will open up new opportunities to develop advanced cancer therapy." said BK Seo, CEO of Ubix Therapeutics.