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Biocytogen grants Qilu non-exclusive license to preclinical VHH antibody for neuroscience

Edited by Robert McTiernan··1 min read
Biocytogen grants Qilu non-exclusive license to preclinical VHH antibody for neuroscience

China-based Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (SSE: 688796; HKEX: 02315) has granted Qilu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. a non-exclusive license to a fully human VHH antibody molecule from its RenNano platform.

The licensed molecule is preclinical, with no named target or specific indication disclosed. Qilu Pharmaceutical, a large Chinese pharmaceutical company with established capabilities across chemical drugs, biologics, and innovative therapeutics, will advance the asset independently under its own research and development strategy. The company said the future development modality — whether as a standalone VHH antibody, bispecific, antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), or other format — will be determined according to project characteristics and therapeutic needs.

Biocytogen confirmed it will receive an upfront payment and is eligible for development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, with specifics not disclosed. The non-exclusive grant means Biocytogen retains the right to license the same molecule to additional parties.

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The RenNano platform uses transgenic mice engineered to produce fully human heavy-chain-only antibodies, generating VHH domains with fully human variable region sequences through in vivo immunization and affinity maturation. The company describes the platform as designed to produce molecules with favorable specificity, binding affinity, and developability, capable of serving as building blocks for multiple modalities.

The RenNano platform itself received a separate licensing event in March 2026, when Biocytogen granted Japan-based Taisho Pharmaceutical access to the full platform for internal R&D programs — a broader platform-level grant compared to the single-molecule, field-restricted license issued to Qilu. A court also cleared the RenNano platform in a patent dispute against Harbour Biomed, removing a potential IP overhang on the platform's commercial use.

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