GenScript Biotech and Ligand Pharmaceuticals Enter into Global OmniAb® Licensing Agreement

GenScript Biotech Corporation (HKG: 1548) along with its subsidiary, GenScript ProBio, and Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: LGND) announced today that they have entered into a strategic licensing agreement for Ligand’s OmniAb® Platform, a multi-species antibody discovery platform, to generate highly diversified, fully human antibodies that are optimized in vivo for immunogenicity, manufacturability and efficacy. Under terms of the agreement, GenScript is now able to offer its global customers access to the OmniAb rodent platforms for high-quality, rapid, fully human antibody discovery services.

“We are excited to enter into this new relationship with Ligand, which has one of the best antibody discovery platforms in the world,” said Brian Min, Ph.D., CEO of GenScript ProBio. “GenScript is committed to helping our customers expand their pipelines of innovative antibody products and advance their biological drugs to market more quickly. We believe that our deep experience in antibody discovery services combined with Ligand’s premier transgenic antibody discovery platform will accomplish those goals and ultimately bring better treatment options to patients.”

GenScript ProBio, already a qualified OmniAb contract research organization (CRO) for antibody discovery services, is now the second contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) in China to secure a global license to the transgenic rodent technology of the OmniAb platform. With more than 16 years of experience in custom antibody services for various targets, GenScript ProBio provides a range of immunization methods. By combining a single B cell screening platform with transgenic rodent platforms, GenScript ProBio is capable of generating fully human therapeutic antibodies in one month, thereby significantly accelerating research and development.

“Our OmniAb technology stack provides industry partners with access to the most advanced antibody repertoires and state-of-the-art screening technologies to enable efficient discovery of next-generation novel therapeutics. At the heart of OmniAb is the Biological Intelligence™ of our proprietary and validated transgenic animals, which we are pleased to leverage in expanding our relationship with GenScript from a qualified services provider for those with access to OmniAb to a licensed partner,” said John Higgins, CEO of Ligand Pharmaceuticals. “The OmniAb platform continues to be validated by the clinical progress of our license partners with recent late-stage successes and two regulatory approvals expected this year. To support the bright future we envision for our OmniAb platform, Ligand is expanding our team and capabilities within our integrated antibody discovery operations through internal investments in technology development, bolt-on acquisitions and partnering.”

Source: GenScript