A new biotech company has been launched in Seattle, US, and Singapore, with the goal of advancing the technology for antibody-drug conjugates - treatments for cancer that use an antibody and linker to deliver a cytotoxic agent to cancer cells. The company, Callio Therapeutics Inc, is developing ADCs that would be equipped with more than one cytotoxic payload. The company says this structure could increase the efficacy of ADCs, a drug class which is attracting developers across the industry.
Investors, led by Frazier Life Sciences of California, US, announced the launch on 3 March accompanied by a $187 million Series A financing. Companies in the financing syndicate include Novo Holdings A/S, Omega Funds, and ClavystBio. Callio’s intellectual property and technology has been in-licensed from Hummingbird Bioscience, a biotherapeutics company based in Singapore. Hummingbird will have shares in the new company and also receive potential milestone and royalty payments if any new drugs are launched.
Traditional ADCs are equipped with one cytotoxic agent for delivery to cancer cells. The Callio technology would have more than one payload. In theory, this could include both microtubule inhibitors and DNA-damaging agents.
Mylotarg, a drug for acute myeloid leukaemia, was the first ADC to be approved for marketing. It was launched in the US in 2000, only to be withdrawn for safety reasons and
relaunched in 2017. Since then more than a dozen ADCs have been approved and many more are in the clinic.
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