South-Korean biotech Y-Biologics and French mid-pharma Pierre Fabre enter into a worldwide exclusive license agreement in the highly innovative field of immuno-oncology

The South Korean biotech company Y-Biologics and the French pharmaceutical group Pierre Fabre have entered into a license agreement granting worldwide exclusive rights to Pierre Fabre to develop and commercialize a family of human antibodies generated through the phage display human antibody Ymax®-ABL library owned by Y-Biologics.

These antibodies have been functionally validated by the Pierre Fabre R&D teams for their specific properties on a pivotal immuno-oncology target acting on the tumoral microenvironment. Pierre Fabre intends to select a new therapeutic candidate in immuno-oncology for further developments.

This licensing agreement results from the strong and now proven complementarity between the two companies who have been collaborating since 2018. The final objective pursued by Y-Biologics and Pierre Fabre is to provide patients with innovative drugs to target refractory or relapsing cancer, taking advantage of the immune infiltrate to inhibit the growth of tumor cells.

This new milestone reached by the two companies reveals the effectiveness of the scientific means put in place by Y-Biologics, associated with the high expertise of Pierre Fabre in oncology.

Young Woo Park, CEO of Y-Biologics, stated: "We are very pleased to sign our first license agreement with Pierre Fabre. The collaboration between Y-Biologics and Pierre Fabre which is being conducted based on mutual trust, is expected to further advance the development of innovative immuno-oncology therapeutics targeting the tumor microenvironment."

"Since the beginning of our partnership, the collaboration with Y-Biologics has been very efficient and fruitful. Their library has allowed us to identify a family of human antibodies against a promising target defined by our researchers at our dedicated Center of Immunology. This new exciting license agreement will allow us to further support the development of this therapy for the benefit of patients," added Nathalie Corvaïa, Head of Immuno-Oncology Research, Center of Immunology Pierre Fabre (CIPF).