Beijing, China and Tokyo, Japan, February 1st, 2021 – Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (“Biocytogen”) and LiberoThera Co.,Ltd (“LiberoThera”) announced today that they have entered into an agreement for strategic collaboration on fully human therapeutic GPCR antibody development incorporating Biocytogen’s world-class antibody discovery expertise based on its fully human antibody RenMab^® mouse platform with LiberoThera’s state-of-the-art antigen preparation capabilities.

中国北京和日本东京，2021年2月1日 – 百奥赛图（北京）医药科技股份有限公司（下文简称“百奥赛图”）与日本LiberoThera有限公司（下文简称“LiberoThera”）今日共同宣布，双方将基于百奥赛图世界先进的全人源转基因小鼠RenMab^® 的抗体发现平台及LiberoThera杰出的抗原制备技术,开展针对全人GPCR抗体开发的战略合作。

The collaboration is expected to yield fully human GPCR antibodies for therapeutic use. Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will jointly work on the discovery research targeting an oncology-related GPCR until completion of in vivo evaluation studies as a first step. LiberoThera will provide antigens and assistance on in vitro screening while Biocytogen commits to use its RenMab^® mouse platform for the GPCR antibody generation and lead the in vitro and in vivo evaluation. 

该合作旨在发现治疗型全人GPCR抗体。根据协议约定，第一阶段的合作双方将共同开展针对GPCR靶点的抗肿瘤抗体发现直到完成体内药效评价，确定先导抗体分子。LiberoThera负责抗原制备并参与抗体体外筛选，百奥赛图则将利用其RenMab^®小鼠平台开展GPCR抗体发现并通过体内药效评价技术完成先导抗体候选分子的筛选。

”GPCR monoclonal antibodies have great potential in various therapeutic areas. However, development of GPCR antibodies remains challenging due to the lack of understanding of the targets their biology and structure plus the technical hurdles in antigen design, preparation, modification, etc. With LiberoThera’s unique GPCR antigen preparation platform and its in-depth understanding of the target structure, we believe this strategic collaboration can break bottlenecks through leveraging the strengths of both ends to propel therapeutic GPCR antibody development forward.” said Yuelei Shen, Ph.D., president and CEO of Biocytogen.

百奥赛图创始人、董事长和CEO沈月雷博士表示：“GPCR单克隆抗体在多种治疗领域具有非常大的应用潜力。然而，对该类靶点生物学特点及结构缺乏了解，再加上相关抗原设计、制备和修饰等相关技术的制约，针对该类靶点的抗体药物开发之路充满挑战。LiberoThera公司具有独特的GPCR抗原制备平台，并且对靶点结构有着深入的认识。我们相信本次战略合作可以充分结合双方平台的特点及优势，打破领域内现有的技术瓶颈，快速推进治疗型GPCR抗体的开发。”

“We are excited about this strategic collaboration as we see a great potential and synergy of Biocytogen’s innovative humanized models and streamlined antibody development platform together with LiberoThera’s membrane protein technologies.” said Toru Kanke, Ph.D., CEO of LiberoThera. “The fully human antibody RenMab^® Mouse developed by Biocytogen together with the target knock-out strategy and single-cell screening platform will increase the fully human antibody repertoire against the targets. In combination with our structural antigen, discovery of antibodies with functional properties are highly expected. In addition, it is more likely to discover antibodies cross-reacting to orthologs of other species for convenient downstream evaluation in animal models. With its established in vivo testing capabilities, altogether, Biocytogen’s platform allows for a streamlined solution to improve the productivity of GPCR therapeutic antibody drug development. Collaboration between LiberoThera and Biocytogen would be a good match on confronting the challenges in the field.”

“我们非常高兴能与百奥赛图展开战略合作。百奥赛图创新性的人源化小鼠模型、一体化的抗体药物开发平台与我们独特的膜蛋白制备技术结合形成互补协同，有非常大的潜力。”LiberoThera公司CEO，Toru Kanke博士说道，“百奥赛图自主研发的全人抗体鼠RenMab^®结合靶点敲除策略及单细胞筛选平台能提高产生抗体的多样性，并且更有可能得到跨物种识别的抗体，大大方便了后续在动物模型中的筛选。百奥赛图在体内药理药效筛选方面也已经建成了高效稳定的平台，这些优势结合起来使得百奥赛图的平台具有整合性一体化的优势，能够提高治疗型GPCR抗体的开发效率。双方平台互补合作，携起手来一起面对领域内的挑战。”

About Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

关于百奥赛图

Biocytogen is a global biotech company that drives the research and development of new drugs with innovative technologies. The company is committed to becoming a global headstream of new drugs and bringing the benefits to the patients around the world as its mission. Based on the fully human antibody RenMab^®, RenLite^® and RenNano^® mice for fully human antibodies production with robust humoral responses, highly diverse antibody repertoire and superior affinity, Biocytogen has integrated its platforms in single-cell antibody discovery, gene editing, large-scale animal model supply, and screening to form a new approach to streamline the entire drug development process. 

Biocytogen has launched a pioneering antibody drug development plan to tackle difficult targets based on the immunization of RenMab^® knockout mice. More than 1,000 targets knockout mouse strains will be generated within 2 years for antibody discovery. Moreover, with the knockout immunization strategy, antibody hits cross-reacting with different species shall be more likely to be generated for better translational efficacy and toxicity evaluation.

Biocytogen collaborates with global partners to accelerate new drug discovery and development. For more information, please visit  http://www.biocytogen.com/.

百奥赛图是一家创新技术驱动新药研发的国际性生物技术公司，致力于成为全球新药发源地，以专注技术创新、持续新药产出、守护人类健康为使命。基于百奥赛图自主研发并拥有完全独立知识产权的全人抗体RenMab®、RenLite®、RenNano®小鼠，将单细胞抗体发现技术平台、高效的基因编辑模型开发平台、规模化动物模型供应平台、快速的动物体内外药效评价平台、强大的临床开发能力有机整合在一起，形成了独具特色、涵盖药物研发全流程的新药研发体系。公司成功战略转型为Biotech，未来将更聚焦于创新抗体药物研发。随着规模化抗体药物研发-“千鼠万抗”计划的实施，百奥赛图将携手全球合作伙伴，共同加速新药研发。百奥赛图总部位于北京，在江苏海门、美国波士顿、上海等地设有分支机构，全资子公司祐和医药专注于临床开发。

更多信息请访问https://www.bbctg.com.cn/

About LiberoThera Co., Ltd.

关于LiberoThera

LiberoThera is an early-stage drug discovery company targeting GPCRs (https://www.liberothera.com/). The company was established in 2018 aiming to contribute to medical care through innovative drug discovery utilizing the novel membrane protein technologies invented at RIKEN. Based on its unique cell-free membrane protein synthesis and non-canonical amino acid incorporation technologies, membrane proteins with complexed multiple membrane spanning structures, such as GPCRs, can be prepared in natural forms with structural and functional integrity. LiberoThera has established antibody generation and characterization platform with best use of the membrane protein technologies and is tackling to develop novel therapeutic candidates targeting physiologically important GPCRs in collaboration with multiple biotech companies.

LiberoThera是一家专注于GPCR靶点早期药物发现的公司。公司成立于2018年，利用RIKEN（日本理化学研究所）创新型的膜蛋白制备技术进行新药研发。利用其独特的无细胞蛋白合成系统和非经典氨基酸掺入技术，公司能够制备复杂的多重跨膜蛋白（如GPCR类蛋白）的天然构象并保证蛋白结构和功能的完整。LiberoThera利于其膜蛋白技术已经建立了抗体发现和表征分析平台，并与多家生物技术公司合作进行针对具有重要生理功能的GPCR靶点的新型治疗候选药物的开发。

更多信息请访问：https://www.liberothera.com/