GenScript Signs A Strategic Partnership With The Theragen Etex And MedPACTO For Therapeutic Antibody Drug Development

Singapore /PRNewswire/ -- A global leading biotech company GenScript Biotech Corporation ("GenScript", Stock Code: 1548.HK) announced that the Company has entered into a strategic partnership with the Theragen Etex, a South Korea-based comprehensive pharmaceutical and biotechnology group providing outstanding genetic analysis services and progressing personalized new drug development and MedPACTO, an innovative drug discovery and development company based in South Korea commencing an in-depth cooperation for the discovery, development and production antibody drugs through facilitating the transformation of drugs with clinical value from high potential scientific research projects. This agreement allows three parties to take advantage of the tremendous strength and talent of the scientific research platform in GenScript's in the area of Antibody drugs development. This in turn will leverage the development of a one-stop technical platform to accelerate the R&D and industrialization of innovative antibody drugs.

Under the agreement, the three companies will strategically align themselves with development processes such as finding, manufacturing, and clinical trials of candidate substances for antibody treatments, and related research and service projects. GenScript will offer high-quality one-stop platform services of the discovery, development and production antibody drugs, which would be required for MedPACTO and Theragen Etex. MedPACTO will push for cooperation on a number of new pipelines, including the targeted antibody treatment "MA-B2", based on its independently identified cancer-transfer-related protein "BAG2". Theragen Etex plans to jointly develop antibodies related to chronic inflammatory diseases such as pancreatic cancer and Crohn's disease based on amino acid transporters discovered through genetic analysis.

"Innovation through collaboration is GenScript ProBio's vision." Dr. Brian Min, CEO of GenScript ProBio said, "It is exhilarating that commencing this in-depth cooperation with the Theragen Etex Group and MedPACTO for the discovery, development and production antibody drugs through facilitating the transformation of drugs with clinical value from high potential scientific research projects. With our solid experience and powerful platform, we expect more patients will benefit from better treatments soon."

"Along with the rapid development of Korean Bio-market, Korea is playing an increasingly significant role in Asia Pacific." Yuyu Hu, Business development Head of GenScript Korea said, "We attach great importance to the need of our Korean partners and customers to best support the development of Korean bio-industry. Here, we are very glad to collaborate with Theragen Etex and MedPACTO who are the leading innovative biotech companies in Korea to accelerate and facilitate their antibody drug pipelines with our expertise on antibody drug discovery and development. We believe this partnership will bring more benefits to patients in the future."

In this regard, Sung-Jin Kim, CEO of MedPACTO, said, "We have secured a number of biomarkers that show valid characteristics for development and treatment through genetic analysis of cancer patients, and development of antibody innovation new drugs will begin in earnest."

In addition, Byung-hwan Ryu, CEO of Theragen Etex, said, "We will advance our capabilities in the antibody new drug field by combining GenScript's technology of antibody new drugs, our genetic analysis, new drug development, and drug production experience."

About Theragen Etex Co., Ltd.
Theragen Etex Co., Ltd., headquartered in the Republic of Korea is a biotechnology company, encompasses the entire related industries such as disease prediction and diagnosis, new drug development, and drug production and distribution. Currently, it produces more than 200 kinds of medicine, including specialized drugs and improved new drugs, and recently, it has strengthened its R&D field to focus on researching improved new drugs and securing new drug pipelines using artificial intelligence (AI). It has several subsidiaries, including Theragen Bio, a genetic company, and Lead Farm, which is in charge of drug distribution companies, and is also the largest shareholder of MedPACTO.

About MedPACTO
MedPACTO is an innovative drug discovery and development company based in South Korea that develops therapeutics targeting cancer and autoimmune diseases. MedPACTO was spin-off in 2013 at Theragen Etex and is led by Dr. Kim Sung-Jin, a world-class scholar in the field of cancer genomes and cancer biology. It is conducting research and development in line with the latest anti-cancer paradigms such as tumor microenvironment control, personalized treatment, and combination therapy, and in particular, it is conducting 10 clinical trials including global joint clinical trials on TGF-β inhibitor. In addition to 'Vactosertib,' new drugs are also being developed for the world's first six targets.

About GenScript Biotech Corporation
GenScript Biotech Corporation (Stock Code: 1548.HK) is a global biotechnology group. Based on its leading gene synthesis technology, GenScript has developed four major platforms including the global cell therapy platform, the biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) platform, the contract research organization (CRO) platform and the industrial synthesis product platform. GenScript's business operation spans over 100 countries and regions worldwide with legal entities located in the US, Mainland China, Hong Kong of China, Japan, Singapore, Netherlands and Ireland.

GenScript ProBio, the CDMO division of GenScript, is providing solutions for antibody drug discovery, biologics development, and gene and cell therapy, dedicated to providing end-to-end service from discovery to commercialization with proactive strategies, professional solutions and efficient processes to accelerate the commercialization of medicines, and building a healthier future.

For more information visit www.genscript.com.