Lonza, a global manufacturing partner to the pharma, biotech and nutrition industries, has announced that it is enhancing its bioconjugation offering through an agreement with Singzyme, a company focused on developing enzymes for protein ligation.

Through the collaboration, Lonza will gain access to Singzyme’s enzymatic conjugation platform enabling the site-specific binding of payloads with peptidic linkers to proteins of interest.

The innovative bioconjugation platform enables the development of novel targeted drugs for precision medicine applications, including cancer treatment. The process, relying on a ligase-specific tag sequence, can support any type of payload and shows improved timelines.

Singzyme will gain access to Lonza’s global network, expertise and experience in the development and manufacture of bioconjugates, and an integrated CDMO offering for such a complex modality.

Stefan Egli, Vice President, Head of Bioconjugates, Lonza said, “Singzyme’s highly-specific conjugation platform represents an attractive addition to Lonza’s Bioconjugation toolbox that includes protein expression, linker and payload manufacturing, manufacturability assessments, de-risking, and bioconjugation. Its implementation into our offering will further increase our bioconjugation repertoire and provide reliable and selective conjugation solutions for our customers aiming to develop novel bioconjugates.”

Dr. Abbas El Sahili, Chief Technology Officer, Singzyme said, “The collaboration between Lonza and Singzyme will provide Lonza’s customers with access to a one-stop technology platform allowing for rapid site-specific bioconjugation including dual payloads, with fully controllable drug-to-antibody ratio, while preserving antibody activity. We foresee that this collaboration will significantly shorten the ADC development timeline and bring a wealth of novel drugs faster to the clinic for the benefit of cancer patients.”