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Japan-based Fujifilm Corporation has announced its investment in Valanx Biotech, an Austrian biotechnology company with advanced manufacturing technologies for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), one of the key next-generation biopharmaceutical modalities.
Through this investment, Fujifilm aims to strengthen the foundation of its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business in the ADC field by collaborating with Valanx on cutting-edge ADC manufacturing technologies. This investment is being made through Fujifilm’s corporate venture capital activities in the life sciences field.
In recent years, interest in ADCs, which combine antibodies with drugs such as anticancer agents, as next-generation biopharmaceuticals has accelerated globally due to their potential to deliver high therapeutic efficacy and reduced side effects. At the same time, factors such as the conjugation site and the uniformity of the drug loading and distribution are critical elements that determine therapeutic efficacy and safety, requiring advanced technology.
Valanx offers its proprietary Golden Site™ Technology, which enables highly site-specific conjugation by incorporating synthetic amino acids — acting as selective drug-binding reaction points — into targeted positions on antibodies. This cutting-edge technology is expected to enhance the precise design of conjugation sites and the drug-to-antibody ratio within ADCs, leading to improved ADC uniformity and stability. Valanx is also advancing its own proprietary drug pipeline utilising this technology.
Fujifilm is positioning ADCs as one of its key focus modalities of the furure and building a technological foundation that enables it to provide end-to-end ADC manufacturing services by leveraging the strengths of its group companies across each process, including antibodies, linkers and payloads, conjugation, and formulation.
