Catalent Pharma Solutions and Vaccinex, a Rochester, New York-headquartered clinical-stage biotechnology company, have signed an agreement to develop an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC).

The companies plan to use Catalent’s proprietary SMARTag conjugation platform and GPEx cell-line engineering technologies as well as Vaccinex’s proprietary ActivMAb technology, an antibody discovery platform. The collaboration will focus on developing the ADC against an undisclosed cancer target.

Catalent and Vaccinex will evaluate the ADC in various preclinical models and move it into cell line and process developmentusing Catalent’s proprietary GPEx technology and development and manufacturing capabilities at its Madison, Wisconsin facility.

Catalent’s proprietary SMARTag site-specific protein-modification and linker technologies were designed to enable the generation of homogenous bioconjugates engineered to enhance potency, safety, and stability. To date, eight GPEx-based antibody and protein products are approved and marketed and over 45 therapeutic candidates are currently in development, according to information from Catalent.

Source: Vaccinex and Catalent Pharma Solutions