Y-Biologics and IMBiologics, the two companies that have achieved global technology transfer results together, joined hands again to develop new antibody drugs for autoimmune diseases.

Y-Biologics and IMBiologics announced Wednesday that they have signed a collaboration agreement to jointly research and develop new antibody drug candidates for autoimmune diseases.

The collaboration aims to develop innovative new drugs by combining Y-Biologics' antibody discovery and development platform technology and IMBiologics' experience in developing therapeutics for immune diseases.

The two companies have co-developed IMB-101 (OXTIMA, a bispecific antibody targeting OX40L/TNF-α) and IMB-102 (a monoclonal antibody targeting OX40L) for autoimmune diseases with HK inno.N and transferred the technology to Navigator Medicine in the U.S. for $944.7 million (1.37 trillion won) in June 2024 and to China’s Huadong Medicine for $315.5 million in August.

The collaboration will focus on developing innovative antibody drugs that interfere with key proteins in autoimmune diseases. By inhibiting the excessive activation of T cells and normalizing the function of regulatory T cells, it will provide a new alternative for treating autoimmune diseases with a different mechanism of action from existing therapies.

“We are implementing various open innovation strategies based on our experience in developing antibody therapeutics for immune diseases,” an IMBiologics official said. “Through this collaboration, we will develop innovative antibody drugs beyond IMB-101 and create rapid business results.”

A Y-Biologics official said, “We are challenging to develop innovative new drugs to enter the global market with a partner who shares our successful experience. The synergy of our combined expertise will give us differentiated competitiveness.”