Genome & Company, an 'ADC company,' announces "Developing own ADC within 3 years"

"Genome&Company aims to become a company that creates new target antibodies for antibody-drug conjugates (ADC). Within 2 to 3 years, we plan to achieve a major technology export with ADCs developed in-house."

Hong Yuseok, CEO of Genome & Company, is speaking at a press conference held on the morning of the 13th in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Lee Chunhee]

On the morning of the 13th, Hong Yuseok, CEO of Genome&Company, revealed this vision at the '2024 Genome&Company Strategy Presentation' held in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. He stated, "We will gain recognition for our technological capabilities through technology exports of ADC antibodies and challenge new businesses through the microbiome. Within 2 to 3 years, we aim to achieve a major technology export with ADCs equipped with linkers and payloads developed in-house, and also bring the microbiome commercialization onto the main track." This indicates a shift in focus from the microbiome, which Genome&Company has concentrated on previously, to the cutting-edge trend in the anticancer drug field?the ADC market.

ADC is a new anticancer therapeutic platform that connects antibodies, which act as radars to detect cancer cells, to cytotoxic drugs (payloads) that were previously effective at killing cancer cells but could not distinguish and attack normal cells, via linkers. It is often referred to as a kind of 'anticancer guided missile.' Enhertu, developed by AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo, has sparked innovation in breast cancer treatment and emerged as a new anticancer trend.

Regarding the focus on antibody development, CEO Hong explained, "It is not the case that ADCs cannot be made without linkers and payloads. While innovations in linkers and payloads will certainly continue to advance ADCs, more innovations will occur related to antibodies targeting new targets." As of last year, clinical ADC pipelines targeting validated targets such as human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and trophoblast cell surface antigen 2 (TROP2) accounted for 23% of the total pipeline. However, interest in new targets beyond these has been growing recently, leading to an increase in technology transactions involving new targets.

CEO Hong cited GENA-111, which was licensed out as an ADC antibody to Swiss company DivBioPharm on the 31st of last month, as an example of such a new target antibody. The next candidate Genome&Company is promoting is GENA-104. This substance has been developed as an immuno-oncology agent using contactin (CNTN)4, which can complement programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibody therapies that currently lead the targeted anticancer treatment market. Hong emphasized, "After researching the potential role of GENA-104 as an ADC antibody, we confirmed its promise due to high expression of contactin in gastric cancer, liver cancer, and melanoma. We also verified in animal models that when combined with existing ADC components, it significantly reduced tumor size." He added, "If we can develop new target antibodies with high commercial potential well, we can create more successful technology export cases. We aim to achieve a major technology export with our own ADCs within 2 to 3 years."

Meanwhile, the microbiome, which has been a major focus for Genome&Company, will now concentrate on the field of 'Medical Grade Probiotics' rather than therapeutic new drugs. CEO Hong said, "Big pharma's interest in microbiome anticancer drugs has significantly waned. Apart from the existing GENA-001, there are no plans for new specialized pharmaceutical clinical trials for the time being." Instead, the company plans to establish a new microbiome commercialization model through medical-grade probiotics, a kind of 'specialized health functional food' scientifically proven in patients. Related products are expected to be launched in the market within 2 to 3 years.

Finally, CEO Hong stated, "We will combine enhancing corporate value through innovative new drug development with stable funding secured through differentiated consumer-targeted businesses. Through this, we aim to become a biotech company that pursues sustainable innovation growing through its own business without external financing within five years."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.