Aditum Bio and Leads Biolabs Form New Company, Oblenio Bio, for Developing a Therapeutic Antibody to Treat Autoimmune Disorders

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On Nov. 7, 2024, Aditum Bio and Leads Biolabs announced that they have formed a new company, Oblenio Bio, in conjunction with an exclusive option and license agreement the companies have entered into to develop LBL-051, a first-in-class CD19xB-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)xCD3 tri-specific T-cell engager antibody, for treating autoimmune diseases. Aditum Bio, a US-based biotech venture firm, will fund Oblenio Bio. Together with Leads Biolabs, a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Nanjing, China, the companies will collaborate to rapidly progress LBL-051 to clinical studies.

Under the agreement, Leads Biolabs will grant the newly formed Oblenio Bio an exclusive option to develop, manufacture, and commercialize LBL-051 worldwide. In return, Leads Biolabs is eligible to receive up to $35 million in upfront and near-term payments, $579 million in development, regulatory, and commercialization milestone payments, and royalties on sales. Leads Biolabs is also entitled to receive an equity stake in Oblenio Bio.

“By targeting both CD19 and BCMA in autoimmune disorders, LBL-051 has the potential to achieve a complete immune reset and superior efficacy and durability, compared to single targeting of either CD19 or BCMA alone”, said Joe Jimenez, co-founder and managing director of Aditum Bio, in the release.

Based on recent clinical data (1,2), CD19 and BCMA targeted therapies have shown compelling efficacy in difficult-to-treat autoimmune diseases, according to a company press release. Despite the promising results, however, there remains a continued unmet need for increased efficacy and durability; thus, by targeting both CD19 and BCMA, LBL-051 offers the potential to deliver stronger and more durable responses. The therapeutic is designed to deplete a broader range of pathological B-cell populations across a wide spectrum of antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases, the companies stated in the press release.

LBL-051 is a novel tri-specific T-cell engager developed from the LeadsBody Platform. Each target binding domain—CD19, BCMA, and CD3—was engineered for the express intent of enhancing safety while optimizing efficacy. These domains have been finely tuned to enhance their individual relative potency.

“LBL-051 offers a differentiated approach to treating certain autoimmune conditions and has the potential to be a Pipeline in a Product. We are pleased to establish this partnership with the high caliber team at Aditum to bring this innovative therapy to patients around the world,” said Xiaoqiang Kang, MD, PhD, founder, chairman, and CEO of Leads Biolabs, in the release.

Oblenio Bio marks the thirteenth company launched by Aditum Bio as part of the company’s missioin to give large patient populations access to important medicines. Aditum Bio fosters an incubator model, which aims to speed time-to-market and focuses on the translational phase of drug development. The company also in-licenses promising drug candidates and spins out individual companies dedicated to progressing each candidate through to early clinical trials.

Leads Biolabs focuses on the discovery and development of innovative therapies that address significant unmet medical needs in oncology, autoimmune diseases, metabolic disorders, and other serious conditions. The company’s R&D pipeline includes more than 20 novel candidates across various modalities, including monoclonal antibodies, multi-specific antibodies, T-cell engagers, and antibody-drug conjugates.

References

1. Zhang, W.; Feng, J.; Cinquina, A.; et al. Treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus using BCMA-CD19 Compound CAR. Stem Cell Rev. Rep. 2021, 17, 2120–2123. DOI: 10.1007/s12015-021-10251-6
2. Wang, W.; He, S.; Zhang, W.; et al. BCMA-CD19 Compound CAR T Cells for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Phase 1 Open-label Clinical Trial. Ann. Rheum. Dis. 2024, 83, 1304–1314.

Source: Aditum Bio