Y-Biologics & Pierre Fabre: Confirmation of Research Partnership in Oncology

Boulogne Billancourt, France, March 31, 2021 –(PR.com)– The South Korean biotech company Y-Biologics and the French pharmaceutical group Pierre Fabre announce the conclusion of a strategic Research Collaboration & Optional License Agreement concerning several targets in the field of immuno-oncology.

This strategic partnership between Y-Biologics and Pierre Fabre follows the signing of a letter of intent in November 2020 and the subsequent testing of Y-Biologic�s monoclonal antibodies on a first tumor microenvironment (TME) target selected by Pierre Fabre. This initial testing proved to be conclusive and confirmed the opportunity for Y-Biologics and Pierre Fabre to strengthen their partnership.

The collaboration is set to run for three years with the possibility of a two-year extension. Each year during the collaboration, Y-Biologics and Pierre Fabre will jointly study up to three targets. While Pierre Fabre will have a licensing option for the jointly found leading antibodies, Y-Biologics will have an opt-in option to participate in pre-clinical and clinical development and continue joint development of antibody drugs with Pierre Fabre.

Young Woo Park, CEO of Y-Biologics, stated: “We take great pride in enabling Pierre Fabre, a global stakeholder in oncology, to recognize our antibody discovery platform and expand high level Korean biotechnology globally. In particular, the antibodies jointly studied by Y-Biologics and Pierre Fabre are focused on targets that can change the tumor microenvironment (TME) in those solid cancer patients who do not well respond to immuno-cancer drugs. We are encouraged by this as we can expect synergistic effect with Y-Biologics’ own new drug pipeline for immuno-oncology drugs. We hope that the candidate antibodies developed under the collaboration with Pierre Fabre can lead to preclinical and clinical development and allow recovery of cancer patients.”

“Research in immuno-oncology is a priority for Pierre Fabre. We were impressed by the speed and quality of the testing undergone with Y-Biologics on a first tumor target and are therefore delighted to reinforce our partnership with them to test additional monoclonal antibodies on a larger panel of cancer targets,” added Jean-Luc Lowinski, Medical Care Business Unit CEO, Pierre Fabre.

About Y-Biologics
Founded in 2007, Y-Biologics is a biotech company focusing on the discovery and development of novel antibody therapeutics based on its human antibody library “Ymax®-ABL” & bispecific antibody platform technology “ALiCE” (Antibody Like Cell Engager).

Based on Ymax®-ABL, Y-Biologics currently has developed more than 20 antibody candidates in various modalities. With a diversity of 1011, Ymax®-ABL has highly competitive quality and quantity leading to higher singularity and probability of findings from the proprietary library.

Following early work in discovery, the novel bispecific platform technology ALiCE, allows effective redirection of T cells onto tumor cells and thereby specifically kill the tumor cells giving very potent and long-lasting efficacy in the treatment of cancer patients. ALiCE has overcome the major drawbacks of currently available technologies such as excessive toxicity and low developability. Therefore, it has strong potential to further address those unmet needs in fields of immuno-oncology.

While focused on research initially, Y-Biologics recently started conducting joint development and investment through strategic alliances and providing various collaboration opportunities for global partnering.

For more information: www.ybiologics.com

About Pierre Fabre
Pierre Fabre is a French health and beauty care company with 35-years of experience in innovation, development, manufacturing and commercialization in oncology, and the 2nd largest dermo-cosmetics laboratory in the world, the 2nd largest private French pharmaceutical group and the market leader in France for products sold over the counter in pharmacies.

Its portfolio includes several medical franchises and international brands including Pierre Fabre Oncology, Pierre Fabre Dermatology, Eau Thermale Avène, Klorane, Ducray, René Furterer, A-Derma, Naturactive, Pierre Fabre Oral Care.

The company has recently reaffirmed oncology as one of its main R&D and commercial priorities, focusing on targeted therapies, biotherapies and immuno-oncology. Its therapeutic areas cover high unmet medical needs, including colorectal, breast, lung cancers, melanoma and pre-cancerous conditions like actinic keratosis.

In 2020, Pierre Fabre generated €2.2 billion in revenues, 65% of which came from international sales.

Established in the South-West of France since its creation, the Group manufacturers over 95% of its products in France and employs some 10,000 people worldwide. Its products are distributed in about 130 countries.

Pierre Fabre is 86%-owned by the Pierre Fabre Foundation, a government-recognised public-interest foundation, and secondarily by its own employees through an international employee stock ownership plan.

In 2019, Ecocert Environment assessed the Group’s corporate social and environmental responsibility approach according to the ISO 26000 standard on sustainable development and awarded it the ECOCERT 26000 “Excellence” level.

Further information about Pierre Fabre can be found at www.pierre-fabre.com, @PierreFabre.

About CIPF (Center of Immunology Pierre Fabre)
A center of excellence in the area of biotechnologies, the Center of Immunology Pierre Fabre (CIPF) develops research programs in the area of cancer immunotherapy, with a focus on monoclonal antibodies for therapeutic purposes. The Research department brings its expertise and know-how to identify antibodies and define their therapeutic mechanism of action in the field of Oncology.

Contacts:

Y-Biologics:
Dong-Ock Chang
+82-42-862-9906 / +82-10-3904-5658
dochang@ybiologics.com

Pierre Fabre:
Anne Kerveillant
+33 1 49 10 81 60 / +33 (0)6 20 88 54 57
anne.kerveillant@pierre-fabre