Asahi Kasei Life Science, a subsidiary of Asahi Kasei Corporation (TSE: 3407; OTC: AHKSY), has licensed a glycan-based antibody-drug conjugate bioconjugation platform from The Noguchi Institute, a Tokyo-based non-profit public interest foundation with long-standing expertise in carbohydrate and glycan chemistry. The platform enables site-specific conjugation of cytotoxic payloads to antibodies using the antibody's own sugar chain structures, producing ADCs with a controlled, uniform drug-to-antibody ratio. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The Noguchi Institute's platform is described by the company as a chemoenzymatic approach that exploits the conserved N-glycan at asparagine-297 in the antibody Fc region as a conjugation handle. In contrast to conventional lysine- or cysteine-based methods — which attach payloads randomly, generating heterogeneous mixtures with variable drug-to-antibody ratios — the glycan-based method installs a chemically reactive tag at a defined, reproducible location on each antibody molecule. A bioorthogonal click chemistry step then ligates the drug-linker to that tag under mild conditions.
The platform is described as compatible with native, unmodified IgG antibodies, removing the need for genetic re-engineering of the antibody backbone. It also supports dual-payload loading on a single antibody, which the company says could broaden the range of diseases addressed and potentially reduce toxicity relative to single-payload constructs.
Under the agreement, the two parties will conduct joint research to further refine the technology. Asahi Kasei Life Science will hold rights to sub-license the platform to biopharma companies and contract development and manufacturing organizations, including Bionova Scientific, an Asahi Kasei-owned CDMO.