The Ministry of Economic Affairs(MOEA) announced that the Development Center for Biotechnology(DCB) has developed a new generation of ADC (antibody-drug conjugate) anti-cancer drugs that can carry two small molecule drugs. The key technology of ADC, "tri-mannosyl conjugation technology," has been licensed to HoneyBear Biosciences, which is invested by a domestic leading API company SCI Pharmtech, for a license fee of up to 690 million NT dollars.

The ADC drug is a new advanced technology in cancer treatment, composed of an antibody and small molecule drugs attached. With antibody's targeting abilities to tumor cells, small molecule drugs can precisely exert cancer-killing effect. This approach can be used to cure difficult-to-treat cancers such as pancreatic cancer and ovarian cancer.

The tri-mannosyl conjugation technology platform developed by DCB has two breakthroughs. Firstly, it can carry two different tumor-killing drugs on the same antibody, and has been granted patents in Taiwan, the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea and other countries. Secondly, its specificity linking technology enables ADC products to achieve homogeneity, high stability, and prevent drug detachment during transportation. DCB has already applied this key technology to develop at least two new drugs for cancer treatment, which have also licensed to HoneyBear Biosciences for clinical trials. Within five years, there is a chance that Taiwan's independently developed ADC new drugs will be available on the market.

Through the out-licensing and the collaboration among DCB, HoneyBear Biosciences and SCI Pharmtech, Taiwan has taken a big step forward in the field of precision cancer treatment drugs, hoping to build Taiwan as an international base for ADC drugs development and manufacturing, and entering the global ADC drug market worth tens of billions of dollars.