Handok has formed a strategic partnership with ABL Bio, a Korean biotech company specializing in bispecific antibody (BsAb) drugs, involving clinical trials and marketization of ABL Bio drugs.

The partnership is representative of Handok’s ongoing Open Innovation Program, and gives the company exclusive rights to conduct clinical trials and marketization of three of ABL Bio’s BsAb projects in Korea, including ABL001, an antiangiogenic anticancer drug that is currently undergoing a Phase-1a clinical trial in Korea; a BsAb that interacts with T-cells; and another BsAb-based anticancer drug.

The partnership has also given Handok preferred standing for negotiations on Korean marketization of four additional ABL Bio projects. These additional projects include developing a cancer immunotherapy agent and a cure for neurodegenerative diseases. Handok intends to sign additional contracts in the future to secure prioritized rights to domestic marketization and global expansion of innovative new drugs.

ABL Bio has staked out a niche in the growing BsAb market, developing immunotherapy agents and drugs for neurodegenerative diseases. Antibodies generally recognize and fight only a single given type of antigen. Bispecific antibodies, on the other hand, can respond to two different types of antigen, allowing researchers to develop more efficacious and less toxic medications. Cancer medications based on bispecific antibodies, for example, can boost immune cells and attack cancer cells simultaneously.