Bright Peak Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company developing next-generation immunotherapies for cancer and autoimmune disease, and Ajinomoto Co., Inc. ("Ajinomoto Co."), a leading technology provider for biopharmaceuticals and the owner of Ajinomoto Bio-Pharma Services offering pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing services, announced a research collaboration and exclusive license agreement to incorporate AJICAP^®,  Ajinomoto Co.’s proprietary site-specific bioconjugation technology, for the development of Bright Peak Immunocytokines.

Bright Peak uses a novel ligation technology to chemically synthesize therapeutic cytokines by ligating together customized peptide segments. This proprietary platform provides unique flexibility to both tune and enhance cytokine biology through affinity modification and orthogonal, site-specific conjugation, respectively. AJICAP^® is a proprietary site-specific bioconjugation technology compatible with commonly used antibody isotypes. One of the many advantages of AJICAP^® technology is its "off-the-shelf" feature, allowing any therapeutic antibody at any stage of development to be conjugated to drug-payloads of choice without the need for antibody engineering or cell line development.

As part of the collaboration and license agreement with Ajinomoto Co., the AJICAP^® technology will be used to conjugate Bright Peak’s enhanced cytokines as payloads to certain antibodies, creating novel and proprietary Bright Peak Immunocytokines. These Immunocytokines will allow tissue- and cell-specific targeting of the cytokine payload with the added potential for synergistic efficacy through potency-enhancing avidity effects. As part of the agreement, Bright Peak will receive exclusive worldwide rights to use the AJICAP^® technology for the conjugation of certain cytokine payloads, including but not limited to interleukin-2 (IL-2). The agreement is for the development of multi Immunocytokine molecules. Under the terms of the agreement, Bright Peak will make an exclusivity payment and Ajinomoto Co. is eligible to receive development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments as well as royalties on commercial sales.