BIOCYTOGEN and Tubulis Technologies sign antibody licensing agreement, reaching a total of 280 outward licenses

China Finance News Online, September 16 — Today, BIOCYTOGEN announced that it has signed an antibody licensing agreement with Tubulis Technologies, a German ADC development company. This licensing agreement stems from a research collaboration and option agreement previously reached by the two parties, marking a further advancement in the cooperation between BIOCYTOGEN and Tubulis.

According to the agreement, Tubulis will utilize BIOCYTOGEN's self-developed RenMice.^®Full-human antibody development platform, combined with its proprietary linker and payload technology, to develop innovative ADC therapies. BIOCYTOGEN will receive an upfront payment and is entitled to development, regulatory, and commercialization milestone payments, as well as single-digit net sales royalties.

This is already BIOCYTOGEN's second licensing collaboration with a foreign pharmaceutical company this month. On September 4, BIOCYTOGEN signed an antibody option and evaluation agreement with Merck Germany. Merck hopes that the fully human antibodies developed on BIOCYTOGEN’s RenMice platform will provide cutting-edge solutions for antibody-conjugated lipid nanoparticles (LNP) used in delivering nucleic acid drugs.

BIOCYTOGEN Chairman and CEO Yuelei Shen stated: "Tubulis Technologies exercising its option, along with the agreement with Merck, both demonstrate the international competitiveness and therapeutic potential of our fully human antibody platform. We look forward to our partners accelerating development under the support of BIOCYTOGEN's expertise in antibody discovery, bringing new treatment hope to patients worldwide."

BIOCYTOGEN's 2025 interim report shows that the company has cumulatively signed 280 external licensing agreements, with 80 new agreements signed in the first half of the year alone, representing a 60% increase compared to the same period last year. Seven of the top ten global pharmaceutical companies are BIOCYTOGEN’s antibody molecule licensing partners. In the first half of this year, BIOCYTOGEN achieved operating revenue of 621 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 51.3%, of which nearly 70% was income derived from collaborations with overseas pharmaceutical companies. The company's business covers multiple markets in Europe, America, and the Asia-Pacific region, with research and operation centers located in Boston, San Francisco, San Diego (USA), and Heidelberg (Germany).

The excellent performance has made BIOCYTOGEN stand out in the Hong Kong stock market. From the beginning of the year to now, the stock price of BIOCYTOGEN has risen from a low of HKD 7.8 to a high of HKD 28.58, with an increase of over 320%.

A relevant person in charge of BIOCYTOGEN stated that, in order to maintain competitiveness on a global scale, the company has consistently invested heavily in research and development over the years. In the first half of this year, the company's R&D expenses amounted to approximately 209 million yuan, marking a 29.3% increase year-on-year. Around 400 researchers are engaged in the Thousand Mouse Ten Thousand Antibody Project and preclinical studies. By the end of June, the company had cumulatively obtained 195 authorized patents and submitted 496 patent applications. "The company will focus on expanding its fully human antibody molecular library and developing novel target humanized mice, demonstrating firm confidence and pragmatic strategies in line with China's innovation-driven national development strategy and aiming to establish itself as a 'global birthplace of new drugs.'"

Data shows that Biocytogen, established in 2009, started with humanized model animals for target sites and gradually moved into the full-human antibody development business. In 2020, the company officially launched the "Project Mouse 1000 & Antibody 10000" initiative, beginning to build an "antibody shelf" to develop cutting-edge products such as monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies, nanobodies, and ADCs, while delivering high-quality antibody molecules to provide infrastructure for global pharmaceutical innovation. Currently, with its proprietary full-human antibody mouse platform RenMice, Biocytogen has become a leading player in China's outbound licensing of innovative molecules.