Nobody wanted the patent.
University of Lyon researchers had developed a hydrophilic drug-linker platform for antibody-drug conjugates, now a hot field thanks to the likes of Padcev. Warren Viricel, one piece of the Lyon trio, had created Lina Therapeutics. Along with professors Benoît Joseph and Charles Dumontet, the three scientific friends struggled to get the ball rolling, though.
In came Jean-Guillaume Lafay.
“They called me because they are scientists, not business guys. They showed me the result of the patent, and at this stage, nobody wanted this patent,” Lafay told
Endpoints News
.
So, he launched Mablink Bioscience in late 2018 and brought Lina into the fold to create ADCs, attempting to go up against a growing landscape populated by the likes of ADC Therapeutics,
Synaffix
,
MacroGenics
,Mythic Therapeutics
and Emergence Therapeutics. The latter licensed Mablink’s drug-linker tech last October to build its ADC targeting nectin-4, the protein hunted by Seagen and Astellas’ Padcev. Two months later, Emergence revealed its nearly $100 million Series A.
First up is ovarian cancer, with CMC work underway for MBK-103, which is likely to have all its IND paperwork filed in 12 to 16 months.
Before then, Lafay wants a US co-development partner to help bankroll the Phase I. In the meantime, more ADCs will show up in the pipeline for solid tumors.
Mablink is also on the lookout for a chief medical officer, Lafay said. The C-suite currently includes Viricel as CSO, former Sanofi Pasteur finance director Stanislas Sordet as CFO, and former Innate Pharma VP Frédérique Brune as development chief.