As reported on Pharmaceutical Technology, Alentis Therapeutics has expanded its efforts in claudin-1-targeted cancer therapeutics through a newly announced partnership with PinotBio, aimed at generating antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for multiple oncology indications.
The agreement brings together Alentis’ portfolio of claudin-1-directed antibodies and PinotBio’s proprietary ADC engineering capabilities. Under the terms of the deal, Alentis gains the right to exclusively evaluate and potentially license PinotBio’s linker and payload technologies for incorporation into future development programs.
PinotBio is eligible to receive upfront compensation as well as additional payments tied to development achievements, regulatory approvals, and commercial milestones. The Korean biotechnology company could also receive royalties if products arising from the collaboration reach the market.
The initiative centers on claudin-1, a tight-junction protein that has emerged as a potentially important therapeutic target because of its prevalence across numerous solid tumor types. By combining their respective technologies, the companies hope to create more effective targeted therapies for patients with difficult-to-treat cancers.
Alentis Chief Executive Officer Mark Pruzanski, MD, said the collaboration reflects the growing momentum behind claudin-1-based drug development. He noted that the companies had previously evaluated a broad range of ADC designs together, generating data that encouraged an expansion of the relationship.
The Swiss biotech already has two claudin-1-directed ADC candidates in clinical testing. ALE.P02, which delivers a microtubule-disrupting payload, and ALE.P03, which utilizes a topoisomerase I inhibitor, are being studied in early-stage trials involving patients with claudin-1-positive solid malignancies.
Regulatory interest in the program has also increased. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently granted Fast Track status to ALE.P02 for the treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic squamous cancers expressing claudin-1.
While cancer remains a major focus, Alentis is advancing additional programs outside oncology. Its investigational antibody lixudebart is currently being assessed in clinical studies involving advanced liver fibrosis and kidney-associated ANCA vasculitis. The company is also working with CSL to develop the therapy for several severe inflammatory and rare diseases, including focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and forms of vasculitis associated with rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis.
Alentis traces its scientific origins to research conducted at the University of Strasbourg and Inserm in France. PinotBio, established in South Korea in 2017, focuses on therapies designed to overcome disease recurrence and treatment resistance. Its pipeline includes several ADC programs built on the company’s PINOT-ADC platform, among them CT-P70, CT-P71, CT-P73, and PBX-004. Three of the partnered assets being advanced with Celltrion have already obtained FDA Fast Track designation.
The expanded collaboration underscores the biotechnology sector’s continued investment in ADC technologies and highlights increasing industry confidence in claudin-1 as a potentially significant target across a broad spectrum of tumor types.
