Suh, Jung-Jin, chairman of Celltrion (left), and his eldest son Suh, Jin-Seok, CEO of Celltrion's Management Business Division, present together on the main stage of the 43rd JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPM) held at The Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, USA, on the afternoon of Jan. 14 (local time)./Courtesy of Celltrion

Celltrion focuses on the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and multi-specific antibodies. The company's goal is to leap from a biosimilar stronghold to a global innovative drug corporation.

Seo Jin-seok, president of Celltrion's management division, noted on the 14th (local time) during the main track presentation at the 43rd JP Morgan Healthcare Conference held at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, USA, that "Celltrion plans to accelerate next-generation drug development based on the experience and know-how it gained by achieving its goal of securing 11 types of antibody therapeutics by 2025 ahead of schedule last year."

The JPM main track is a stage where only 27 out of over 550 officially invited corporations can present. Seo Jung-jin, chairman of Celltrion, and his eldest son, Seo Jin-seok, also attended this year, continuing their presence from last year.

Seo highlighted that the ADC and multi-specific antibody drug development are key projects that will drive Celltrion's growth in the future.

ADC is considered a core technology for next-generation cancer drugs that selectively deliver drugs only to cancer cells. It consists of three connected elements: antibody, payload, and linker, where the drug (payload) is linked to the guiding antibody via the linker, allowing it to quickly and accurately target and attack only specific cancer cells. This minimizes damage to other cells, resulting in fewer side effects while maintaining high therapeutic efficacy.

Plans are in place to introduce existing treatments, such as the non-small cell lung cancer treatment CT-P70 and the bladder cancer treatment CT-P71, as better biobetter ADC drugs first unveiled at the 'World ADC' conference held in San Diego, USA, last November. Biobetter refers to a platform that improves existing medicines or enhances efficacy through new formulations.

These treatments utilize the newly developed payload PBX-7016, which Celltrion co-developed through open innovation. PBX-7016 showed low toxicity and high tumor growth inhibition (TGI) effect during the development process. Celltrion aims to develop a 'best-in-class' new drug that shows the best efficacy among therapies based on the same principle. This can also be applied to other pipelines of new drug candidates in the future.

Suh, Jin-Seok, CEO of Celltrion's Management Business Division and the eldest son of Suh, Jung-Jin, presents on the main stage of the 43rd JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPM) held at The Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, USA, on the afternoon of Jan. 14 (local time)./Courtesy of Celltrion

Celltrion is also developing a dual payload ADC designed to enhance therapeutic effects by targeting two proteins.

It has begun developing multi-specific antibody drugs that selectively act only on cancer cells or are activated only under specific conditions. Celltrion is currently developing the multi-specific antibody cancer drug CT-P72, having researched the clear differences in cytotoxicity between normal tissue cells and cancer cells, and has demonstrated improved toxicity.

Unlike single antibodies that act on only one antigen, multi-specific antibodies act on two or more different antigens. They have become a promising new alternative for various incurable diseases due to their higher therapeutic efficacy compared to existing single antibody treatments.

In response, Celltrion plans to focus on developing multi-specific antibody therapeutics, including 'conditionally active multi-specific antibodies' that enhance safety by activating antibodies only against cancer targets, as well as 'immune anti-cancer multi-specific antibodies' that can enhance the anti-cancer effects of various immune cells.

Seo presented future plans for the clinical trial application (IND) of new drug candidates. He plans to submit INDs for a total of 13 candidates, including 9 in the ADC field and 4 in the multi-specific antibody field, by 2028. The ADC drugs CT-P70, CT-P71, and CT-P73, as well as the multi-specific antibody drug CT-P72, will have INDs submitted this year. In the following year, IND submissions for 2 ADC drugs and 2 multi-specific antibody drugs are planned, along with submissions for 3 ADC drugs in 2027, one ADC drug and one multi-specific antibody drug in 2028.

Seo stated, "This year, just two years after the start of new drug development, four new drug candidates are set to enter clinical trials one after another," adding that "the leading candidate showing good results in non-clinical trials will help Celltrion quickly achieve its goal of becoming a global innovative drug corporation."