[Edaily Reporter KIM SAE-MI ] #Inventera Inc., a nanopharmaceutical platform company, announced on the 28th that it has signed a Collaborative Research Agreement (CRA) with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to develop next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).

Under this agreement, the two parties will conduct joint research to improve the performance of existing ADCs and develop ADCs with new structures using Inventera Inc.’s nanopharmaceutical platform, “Invinity.”

ADCs are therapeutics that combine anticancer drugs with antibodies that target cancer cells. Inventera Inc. plans to research ways to increase drug loading capacity and stability by applying Invinity between the antibody and the anticancer drug.

Invinity acts as a nanoscale scaffold capable of carrying multiple drugs. Inventera Inc. expects that this will increase the drug-to-antibody ratio (DAR) and improve stability in the bloodstream and circulation time within the body.

The joint research will proceed in two phases. In the first phase, Infinity will be applied to existing ADCs to compare and verify changes in drug loading capacity, stability, persistence in the body, drug delivery efficiency, and anticancer efficacy. The second task involves developing a new ADC structure that utilizes a peptide linker designed to cleave in response to extracellular enzymes present in the tumor microenvironment. Through this, the team plans to evaluate the feasibility of a technology that enables drug release specifically at the tumor site.

Professor Young-Wook Jun of UCSF will participate in this research as a co-principal investigator. Professor Jun has conducted research in the fields of nanoparticles and bioimaging.

Inventera Inc. plans to expand the scope of its Infinity platform—which has been used to develop magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents—to include anticancer therapeutics. The company is currently developing “INV-002,” a contrast agent for magnetic resonance (MR) arthrography.

Kim Ji-wook, head of Inventera Inc.’s in-house research institute, stated, “By utilizing Infinity as a nano-support between antibodies and anticancer drugs, we can create an ADC structure that carries a larger payload while maintaining antibody stability.” He added, “Through joint research with UCSF, we plan to develop technologies that improve the performance of existing ADCs as well as ADCs with new mechanisms of action.”