Swiss CDMO Lonza has acquired Synaffix, a Dutch-based biotech focused on the development of ADCs. As a Lonza company, Synaffix will continue to operate under its existing name and further expand its operations in Oss, the Netherlands.

The transaction comprises an initial financial consideration of €100 million in cash and up to €60 million in additional performance-based considerations. The company’s revenues and margins will be recognized in Lonza’s balance sheet from the date of acquisition.

Combining Lonza’s development and manufacturing capabilities with the Synaffix ADC technology platform will provide customers and licensees with a comprehensive service to rapidly discover, develop, scale up and commercialize novel and differentiated ADCs, the CDMO said. “These enhanced capabilities,” it said, “will streamline the path to clinic and commercialization.”

Supported by a dedicated scientific team, the Synaffix technology platform, which includes payload and site-specific linker technologies, will enhance and extend Lonza’s integrated ADC services, including its early-phase offering, the Basel-headquartered company added.

While ADCs offer widespread and targeted treatment potential against cancer, they also present a range of complex development and manufacturing challenges, Lonza said, noting that in this sense the Synaffix ADC technology platform comprising proprietary GlycoConnect, HydraSpace and toxSYN technologies has the potential to considerably enhance the efficacy and tolerability of ADCs..

Calling the Synaffix ADC technology, “the gold standard,” Ulrich Osswald, Lonza’s vice president for licensing, said the acquisition will help the Basel firm to expand its strategic position in bioconjugates, enhancing its value proposition for clinical customers.

By the reverse token, Synaffix CEO Peter van de Sande, pointing to “strong and immediate synergies,” said that under the Lonza umbrella his company will be in a better position to fast-track technology innovations in bioconjugates beyond cytotoxic ADCs.

In its center of excellence for bioconjugate technology development, the integrated operation will focus on out-licensing bioconjugates technologies for cytotoxic ADCs, targeted gene therapy, immune cell engagers applications and beyond, Lonza said.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist