Elevation Oncology Licenses ADC Technology from Synaffix to Drive Pipeline Expansion

• Licensing agreement gives Elevation Oncology access to Synaffix's ADC technology for one program in combination with SYNstatin E™
• Elevation Oncology nominates a novel HER3 ADC candidate EO-1022 leveraging its antibody as well as Synaffix's proprietary ADC development technologies

AMSTERDAM, Dec. 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Synaffix B.V., a Lonza company (SIX: LONN) focused on commercializing its clinical-stage platform technology for the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with best-in-class therapeutic index, today announces that it has entered into a licensing agreement with Elevation Oncology, Inc., an innovative oncology company focused on the discovery and development of selective cancer therapies to treat patients across a range of solid tumors with significant unmet medical needs.

Synaffix gives Elevation Oncology global access to its clinical stage, site-specific ADC technology platform, including GlycoConnect® antibody conjugation technology, HydraSpace® polar spacer technology, as well as the toxSYN® linker-payload, SYNstatin E™, which enables the transformation of Elevation Oncology's antibody into a differentiated ADC with best-in-class potential.

Under the terms of the agreement, Synaffix is eligible to receive up to USD 368 million in upfront and clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, plus tiered royalties on net sales. Synaffix is responsible for manufacturing the components related to its proprietary technologies, and Elevation Oncology is responsible for the research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of the ADC.

Peter van de Sande, Head of Synaffix, said: "As a dedicated partner in the ADC space, Synaffix is excited to collaborate with Elevation Oncology to push the boundary of ADC innovation. With our state-of-the-art ADC technology platform and established supply chain, Elevation is well-positioned to accelerate the development of its differentiated HER3 ADC." 

David Dornan, Chief Scientific Officer at Elevation Oncology, commented: "Our partnership with Synaffix enables us to build a HER3 ADC candidate with best-in-class potential, which leverages Synaffix's state-of-the-art site-specific conjugation and differentiated linker-payload for a potentially improved safety and efficacy profile. We look forward to advancing our pipeline as we work toward transforming the care and treatment of patients living with solid tumors that express HER3." 

About Synaffix
Synaffix B.V. is a biotechnology company that enables ADC product candidates using its clinical-stage, site-specific ADC technology platform based on GlycoConnect®, HydraSpace® and toxSYN® technologies, that together enable any company with an antibody to develop proprietary best-in-class ADC products under a single license from Synaffix.

The Synaffix platform enables a rapid timeline to clinic due to the established supply chain of technology components.  Synaffix holds granted patents to its technology. The business model of Synaffix is target-specific technology out-licensing, as exemplified through its existing deals with ADC Therapeutics, Mersana Therapeutics, Shanghai Miracogen (acquired by Lepu Biopharma), Innovent Biologics, Kyowa Kirin, Genmab, Macrogenics, Amgen, Hummingbird Biosciences, Chong Kun Dang Pharma, ABL Bio, SOTIO Biotech, Kivu Bioscience, BigHat Biosciences, Illuminaand Elevation Oncology.

Synaffix was fully acquired by Lonza in June 2023.

About The Synaffix ADC Platform Technology
Synaffix's proprietary ADC technology platform consists of GlycoConnect®, GlycoConnect™ High DAR Technology, HydraSpace®, and toxSYN®. These technologies are aimed at enabling best-in-class ADCs from any antibody, with significantly enhanced efficacy and tolerability. 

GlycoConnect® clinical-stage conjugation technology exploits the native antibody glycan for site-specific and stable payload attachment and is tunable to DAR1, DAR2 or DAR4 formats. The extension of GlycoConnect® with High DAR Technology enables ADCs with high drug loading (6, 8 and above), while retaining high drug substance homogeneity and therapeutic index.  HydraSpace® clinical-stage compact and highly polar spacer technology is designed to further enhance therapeutic index, particularly with hydrophobic payloads. toxSYN® linker-payload platform spans key, validated MOAs for ADC product development. This includes potent topoisomerase 1 inhibitor (SYNtecan E™), DNA damaging agents (SYNeamicin D™ and SYNeamicin G™), ⍺-Microtubule (SYNtansine™) and β-Microtubule (SYNstatin E™ and SYNstatin F™) inhibitors as well as several unlaunched proprietary linker-payloads that were generated through the ongoing innovative efforts of the Synaffix R&D team.

The newest proprietary linker-payload, "SYN-PNU™" is part of the established and expanding toxSYN® linker-payload portfolio. SYN-PNU™ represents (based on pre-clinical models) a significantly potency-attenuated and better tolerated version of PNU-159,682, to enable enhanced administered dose levels and competitive therapeutic properties versus ADCs prepared using the original molecule. The reference compound (PNU-159,682) is a metabolite of the anthracycline Nemorubicin and represents a highly potent DNA topoisomerase II inhibitor.

The combination of these three technologies provides developers with a "one stop" and easy-to-use ADC technology platform, allowing any antibody developer to develop its own proprietary ADC and any ADC developer to expand its pipeline further and increase its competitive position.

About Lonza
Lonza is one of the world's largest healthcare manufacturing organizations. Working across five continents, our global community of around 18,000 colleagues helps pharmaceutical, biotech and nutrition companies to bring their treatments to market. United by our vision to bring any therapy to life, we support our customers with a combination of technological insight, world-class manufacturing, scientific expertise, process excellence and innovation. Our work enables our customers to develop and commercialize their therapeutic discoveries, allowing their patients to benefit from life-saving and life-enhancing treatments.

Our business is structured to meet our customers' complex needs across four divisions: Biologics, Small Molecules, Cell & Gene, and Capsules & Health Ingredients. Our company generated sales of CHF 3.1 billion with a CORE EBITDA of CHF 893 million during the first 6 months 2024. Find out more at www.lonza.com

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About Elevation Oncology, Inc.
Elevation Oncology is an innovative oncology company focused on the discovery and development of selective cancer therapies to treat patients across a range of solid tumors with significant unmet medical needs. We are leveraging our antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) expertise to advance a novel pipeline, initially targeting two clinically validated targets in oncology, Claudin 18.2 and HER3. Our lead candidate, EO-3021, is a potential best-in-class ADC designed to target Claudin 18.2 and is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 trial (NCT05980416) in patients with advanced, unresectable or metastatic solid tumors likely to express Claudin 18.2 including gastric, gastroesophageal junction, pancreatic or esophageal cancers. We are also advancing EO-1022, a HER3-targeting ADC for the treatment of patients living with solid tumors that express HER3, through preclinical development. For more information, visit www.ElevationOncology.com.