In December 2023, Shanghai Escugen Biotechnology Co., Ltd. ("Escugen") and InxMed (Nanjing) Co., Ltd. ("InxMed") entered into an effective licensing cooperation agreement. According to the agreement, Escugen granted InxMed a non-exclusive global license to use its ADC technology platform, EZWi-Fit®, for the development of ADC products targeting specific antigens identified by InxMed. InxMed will be responsible for the preclinical research, clinical development, and commercial sales of these ADC products worldwide and will pay Escugen royalties (including upfront payments and milestone payments) as well as a percentage of net sales for each licensed product.
Escugen is a clinical-stage ADC new drug development company with a comprehensive new drug research and development pipeline and capabilities, and has established its next-generation ADC technology platform with independent intellectual property rights, EZWi-Fit®. InxMed is a biotechnology company focused on the development of innovative drugs for the treatment of solid tumor drug resistance and metastasis, with translational medicine as the source of innovation, and is committed to exploring the core disease biology mechanisms and solutions for tumor drug resistance. InxMed currently has several first-in-class ADC candidate drug molecules in development, including a first-in-class ADC targeting fibroblast activation protein (FAP) that has entered the clinical stage. This marks InxMed's further expansion in the ADC field following the announcement of research data for two innovative drugs at the 14th World ADC Conference in October.
This collaboration represents the first global licensing of Escugen's next-generation ADC technology platform, EZWi-Fit®, signifying the high recognition of Escugen's ADC platform technology by peers in the industry and deepening the cooperation between the two parties. InxMed will apply this technology to the development of ADCs targeting innovative tumor treatment targets discovered through its own translational medical research. Escugen and InxMed will continue to strengthen their organic cooperation in advantageous technologies, explore deeper cooperation opportunities, achieve mutual benefits, and benefit more patients.
Dr. Wang Zaiqi, Chairman of InxMed, said: "InxMed and Escugen have previously engaged in in-depth cooperation in the development of innovative macromolecular drugs and have achieved many results. Tumor drug resistance is a significant unmet clinical need. The company has been conducting in-depth translational medical research for many years and has accumulated a deep understanding of the relevant disease biology mechanisms. The new generation of ADC molecules currently under development provides a good opportunity to address tumor drug resistance. The company's pipeline includes several strategies, such as more specifically expressed tumor cell targets, more suitable linker-toxin combinations, and combination therapies with synergistic effects, which are expected to achieve more efficient and durable efficacy and better safety in subsequent clinical studies. Escugen's excellent EZWi-Fit® platform technology will play a positive role in this. Over the next 1 to 2 years, InxMed expects to submit clinical applications for several highly differentiated ADC drugs with significant advantages."
Dr. Zhou Qing, Founder and CEO of Escugen, said: "Escugen and InxMed have long established strategic cooperation and joint development of clinical projects. InxMed's commitment to distinctive translational medical research has effectively identified a number of innovative tumor treatment targets. We are very pleased to see the application of the EZWi-Fit® platform technology to these innovative target antibodies, which have already demonstrated superior and durable therapeutic effects in various complex and highly drug-resistant gastrointestinal PDX tumor models. Based on the successful preclinical validation studies conducted previously, we are confident that InxMed will achieve breakthroughs in the development of first-in-class ADCs. We are also delighted to see the EZWi-Fit® platform technology expand to a broader range of targets and clinical indications to benefit more patients."
About InxMed
Founded in 2018, InxMed is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focusing on the development of innovative drugs for the treatment of solid tumor drug resistance and metastasis. With translational medicine as the source of innovation and leveraging strong clinical capabilities, InxMed is committed to building an efficient platform from disease biology mechanism research to innovative drug discovery and clinical translation and proof of concept, aiming to become a global new drug development company. InxMed has established teams in Nanjing, Shanghai, and Beijing in China and has a high-level translational medicine and clinical development team spanning China, the United States, Canada, and Australia. Through independent innovation, product introduction, and joint development, the company has built a unique and synergistic global development pipeline. The company has completed multiple rounds of financing totaling over $100 million. Its first drug, Ifebemtinib (IN10018), has received Fast-track Designation from the US Food and Drug Administration and Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the National Medical Products Administration of China. It is currently undergoing a pivotal registration clinical trial aimed at market approval and is expected to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) in 2024.
About Escugen Biotechnology
Established in 2017 in the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, Pudong New District, Shanghai, Escugen is a clinical-stage ADC new drug development company with comprehensive new drug research and development capabilities. The company was founded by veteran returnees with decades of R&D experience in both international and domestic biopharmaceutical companies. The founding team has accumulated rich and successful R&D experience in leading biopharmaceutical companies both domestically and internationally, with capabilities covering antibody discovery, bioconjugation, process development and quality research, preclinical and clinical studies. Escugen's lead clinical pipeline, ESG-401, is a Trop2-targeted ADC that uses an innovative stable and degradable linker to significantly reduce off-target toxicity. Clinical data suggest that ESG-401 has a higher tolerable dose than other ADCs targeting the same antigen, with lower incidence and severity of off-target and on-target toxicities, demonstrating a clear safety advantage. The increased ADC dose and in-body exposure have led to encouraging efficacy in patients with advanced, heavily pretreated breast cancer, with significant antitumor effects on both visceral and intracranial metastases.
About the EZWi-Fit® ADC Technology Platform
EZWi-Fit® is Escugen's proprietary next-generation ADC technology platform, which has successfully filed for patent priority and obtained a registered trademark.
The EZWi-Fit® technology platform employs a stable degradable linker and a topoisomerase I (TopI) inhibitor payload. ADCs generated by this platform targeting multiple antigens have shown significantly higher in vivo activity compared to other ADCs with TopI inhibitors as payloads; they still demonstrate robust antitumor activity in various drug resistance models with MMAE, Dxd, and other payload molecules; they stably exhibit tumor suppression and elimination in multiple PDX models with low target expression and high heterogeneity; and they possess favorable pharmacokinetic characteristics and safety. Escugen has systematically completed mechanistic studies of the platform technology, elucidating the mechanisms at the molecular, cellular, and in vivo levels regarding anti-multiple drug resistance, bystander effect, and in vivo activity in low-expression target tumor models, providing convincing objective evidence for the platform's competitive advantages over international benchmark technologies. Escugen has conducted in vitro and in vivo studies on ADCs targeting multiple antigens using this platform technology, obtaining evidence of superiority, and has also achieved excellent safety data in non-human primate safety evaluations for several ADCs.
