Biocytogen Launches RenBiologics, A Sub-Brand Focused on Out-Licensing Fully Human Antibodies For Therapeutic Development

24.01.2024 - 08:10:07

Business Wire India

Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (“Biocytogen”, HKEX: 02315) today announced the launch of a new sub-brand, RenBiologics™, to represent the company’s antibody discovery business division. RenBiologics business will cover out-licensing/co-development of the company’s extensive library of fully human antibodies, as well as licensing of RenMice^®, the company’s fully human antibody/TCR discovery platforms. The RenBiologics logo features an antibody with human-centric design elements, highlighting Biocytogen's expertise in discovering fully human antibodies; the encircled design underscores the company’s dedication to becoming a global resource of fully human antibodies to expedite the development of novel antibody-based therapeutics.

Antibody Licensing and Co-Development Business
Biocytogen’s fully human antibody sequences were generated by proprietary RenMice strains, each engineered to lack a certain drug target gene. From March 2020 to the third quarter of 2023, Biocytogen’s large-scale therapeutic antibody R&D initiative, Project Integrum, completed over 900 target antibody discovery projects (with 40+ in the PCC to IND stages), and established an extensive antibody library of over 400K sequences available for evaluation and out-licensing to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

RenMice-derived fully human antibodies can be developed into novel therapies to treat numerous cancers, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, metabolic diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and neurological diseases. Target types not only include membrane and extracellular proteins, but also some intracellular proteins, many of which currently lack existing drug treatments. Screened monoclonal antibodies/nanobodies can also be developed as bispecific/multispecific antibodies, cell engagers, bispecific antibody-drug conjugates (bsADCs), and cell therapies. The primary advantage of these antibodies is that they lack the need for artificial humanization, which saves significant cost and accelerates the development process; additionally, for fully human antibodies that exhibit cross-species antigen recognition, preclinical efficacy and safety evaluation can be readily performed in various model species.

Leading biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies around the world have recognized Biocytogen's vast antibody library. Partnerships with Merck kGaA, Neurocrine, Ona Therapeutics, Radiance, ADC Therapeutics, Hansoh Pharma, FineImmune, Remegen and others, including several multinational pharmaceutical companies (MNCs), have been established for ADC, bsADC, TCR-mimic antibodies and other drug modalities in oncology and non-oncology therapeutic areas. Additionally, 4 out of 5 clinical-stage assets have entered clinical development agreements with Chipscreen NewWay Biosciences, TRACON, and Syncromune.

Fully Human Antibody/TCR Discovery Platform Licensing Business
Biocytogen offers licensing and flexible partnering models for its RenMice fully human antibody/TCR discovery platforms. RenMice, which were designed using proprietary size-unlimited precise chromosome engineering (SUPCE) technology, includes RenMab™, RenLite^®, RenNano^®, RenTCR™, and RenTCR-mimic™ platforms to enable discovery of fully human monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies, bsADCs, nanobodies, fully human T-cell receptors (TCRs), and TCR-mimic antibodies with high specificity and affinity. RenMice platform licensing agreements have been established with Merck KGaA, Janssen, Xencor, BeiGene, Innovent, Junshi Biosciences, Remegen and others.

Dr. Yuelei Shen, Chairman and CEO of Biocytogen, said, “Officially establishing the RenBiologics division of our company signifies our commitment to becoming a global headstream of novel antibody-based therapeutics. We will continue to expand our library with best-in-class antibodies against novel targets, and plan to develop and launch novel RenMice platforms to enhance our biologic drug discovery capabilities. We look forward to forging new collaborations and advancing existing partnerships into clinic, to ultimately enrich the potential of our partners’ pipeline portfolios.”

About Biocytogen
Biocytogen (HKEX: 02315) is a global biotechnology company that drives the research and development of novel antibody-based drugs with innovative technologies. Founded on gene editing technology, Biocytogen leverages genetically engineered proprietary RenMice^® (RenMab™/RenLite^®/RenNano^®/RenTCR-mimic™) platforms for fully human monoclonal/bispecific/multispecific antibody discovery, bispecific antibody-drug conjugate discovery, nanobody discovery and TCR-mimic antibody discovery, and has established a sub-brand, RenBiologics, to explore global partnerships for an off-the-shelf library of >400,000 fully human antibody sequences against approximately 1000 targets. As of June 30, 2023, 50 therapeutic antibody and multiple clinical asset co-development/out-licensing/transfer agreements and 42 target-nominated RenMice^® licensing projects have been established around the globe, including several partnerships with multinational pharmaceutical companies (MNCs). Biocytogen pioneered the generation of drug target knock-in humanized models for preclinical research, and currently provides a few thousand off-the-shelf animal and cell models under the company’s sub-brand, BioMice™, along with preclinical pharmacology and gene-editing services for clients worldwide. Headquartered in Beijing, Biocytogen has branches in China (Haimen Jiangsu, Shanghai), USA (Boston, San Francisco), and Germany (Heidelberg). For more information, please visit http://en.biocytogen.com.cn.