TCG Labs Soleil’s Juri Biosciences is offering EpimAb Biotherapeutics up to $210 million biobucks for exclusive licensing rights to the China biotech’s T-cell engager designed to treat metastatic prostate cancer.
The global pact centers on EpimAb’s early-stage asset made to target kallikrein-related peptidase 2 (KLK2) and CD3, according to a May 27 release.
The candidate comes from EpimAb’s multispecific antibody tech that rearranges the DNA sequences of two monoclonal antibodies into three genetic constructs in efforts to fully keep the biological function of the parent antibodies, according to the biotech’s website.
In December 2024, the Shanghai-based biotech caught the eye of Candid Therapeutics, with the two inking a research deal for novel T-cell engager candidates for various autoimmune indications.
This new partnership with Juri in the solid tumor space further validates the potential of EpimAb’s science beyond immunology and hematology, founder and CEO Chengbin Wu, Ph.D., said in a May 27 statement.
Under the terms of the freshly inked pact, EpimAb can receive up to $210 million biobucks across upfront and milestone payments, plus royalties. Further financial details of the deal were not shared.
As for Juri, very little is publicly known about the TCG Labs Soleil-created company.
TCG Labs Soleil is part of The Column Group and runs a venture-biotech model with its own R&D hub. The venture fund oversees independent portfolio biotechs that are each dedicated to single-asset programs, according to the release.
“We’ve acquired an exciting external innovation and are deploying our dedicated capital, scientific leadership and operational infrastructure to move it rapidly into the clinic,” TCG Labs Soleil CEO Jin-Long Chen, Ph.D., said in the release. “Prostate cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related death in men and KLK2 is a highly prostate-specific antigen with the potential to enable more precise, targeted therapy.”