- Korean and Swiss based companies leverage their oncology expertise to 
initiate a research collaboration to formulate novel antibody-drug conjugate 
(ADC) candidates

Genome & Company (CEO: Jisoo Pae, Hansoo Park), a global leading 
immuno-oncology firm, and Debiopharm (www.debiopharm.com), a Swiss-based 
biopharmaceutical company specializing in oncology and infectious diseases, 
today announced having entered into a research collaboration for the discovery 
of innovative cancer therapies in the expanding antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) 
class. This research collaboration has been undertaken with the goal of further 
exploiting this new therapeutic class, potentially offering cancer patients 
future treatments that efficiently target cancer cells while avoiding impact on 
healthy tissues.

The collaboration between the two companies is built on the rapidly expanding 
Genome & Company's novel target-based oncology drug pipeline and Debiopharm's 
proven track record in oncology. The Swiss company has developed two standards 
of care in colorectal cancer (oxaliplatin) and in prostate cancer (triptorelin).

Despite ongoing advances in oncology, cancer remains one of the leading causes 
of death worldwide. Standard-of-care systemic therapies, such as chemotherapy, 
have benefited cancer patients by killing existing malignant cells, while 
targeted therapies, such as ADCs, offer new ways of stopping new cancer growth 
by affecting the genes and proteins necessary for tumor cell survival and 
replication. In order to accelerate the discovery of innovative tumor-specific 
treatments, both specialty companies are combining their individual expertise 
for the development of an optimal ADC candidate based on three important 
criteria: the target, the cytotoxic payload, and the linker. Specifically, 
Genome & Company, having generated several antibodies against novel oncology 
targets discovered based on its own drug development platform, GNOCLE™ and will 
now be armed with Debiopharm's Multilink™ technology to deliver cytotoxic 
payloads to tumor cells. Multilink™ is a unique and innovative technology in 
that it allows the loading of multiple and different payloads on an antibody. 
With Debiopharm, Genome & Company will conduct follow-up discussions on the 
clinical development and the licensing of newly discovered ADC candidates.

"This research collaboration has shown that the Genome & Company has a global 
level of research and development capability for novel target-based oncology 
drugs (antibodies) in addition to microbiome therapeutics," said Genome & 
Company CEO, Jisoo Pae. "We will try to provide novel treatments to cancer 
patients through active open innovation strategies for the optimal development 
of novel drugs in the future," he added.

"The collaboration between Genome & Company and Debiopharm is synergizing both 
our companies' technology assets and know-how to generate new Antibody Drug 
Conjugate products. Our aim is to constantly explore different paths to bring 
novel treatment options to patients with unmet medical needs," said Cédric 
Sager, CEO of Debiopharm's development and production facility.

About the companies' ADC technology

Genome & Company has discovered novel targets and antibody candidates on its 
own drug discovery platform (GNOCLE™). Debiopharm has developed several 
proprietary ADC technology platforms, Multilink™ a cleavable linker-drug 
-platform enabling high drug-to-antibody ratio (DAR) ADC development and 
AbYlink™ a technology allowing the covalent Fc-selective attachment of cargos 
(cytotoxic drugs, radioactive agents or fluorophores) to antibodies. Debiopharm 
has a development pipeline of more than 10 programs in bacterial infections and 
oncology, including naratuximab emtansine (Debio 1562), an ADC targeting CD37.

Genome & Company Introduction

Since its establishment in 2015, Genome & Company has been a global leader in 
micro-biome immunologic drugs and is developing next-generation innovative 
drugs in the field of immuno-cancer drugs such as immuno-cancer micro-biome 
drugs and novel target immune-gateway inhibitors. With the acquisition of 
Scioto Bioscience in the US in August this year, we are taking the lead in the 
market to become a global micro-biome healthcare group capable of R&D to 
production, expanding a novel global pipeline for micro-biome treatments for 
brain diseases.

About Debiopharm

Debiopharm develops, manufactures, and invests in innovative therapies and 
technologies that respond to high unmet medical needs in oncology and bacterial 
infections. For more than 35 years, our development and production facility 
based in Martigny (VS, Switzerland) has been a world leader in 
polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA)-based injectable, sustained-release 
technology used for Decapeptyl®, an injectable controlled-release formulation 
of triptorelin - a gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist analogue. 
Today, Debiopharm is developing several enabling technologies for drug 
targeting such as Multlink™, a multipayload linker for ADC, and AbYlink™, an 
antibody conjugation platform.

For more information, please visit www.debiopharm.com.

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Genome & Company IPR Team: 
Seol Soo Gi 
Team Chief 
sugi@genomecom.co.kr 
Tel.: +82 010-5496-5071 

Debiopharm Contact:
Dawn Haughton 
Communication Manager 
dawn.haughton@debiopharm.com 
Tel.: +41 (0)21 321 01 11

Source: Debiopharm International SA