SHANGHAI and SHAOXING, China, Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. ("Sanyou Bio") and NovoCodex Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. ("NovoCodex") jointly announced that the two companies have formally entered into a strategic collaboration agreement. The partnership will focus on the joint development of innovative antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), leveraging Sanyou Bio’s strengths in innovative ADC discovery powered by its AI-Super trillion antibody/molecule libraries (AI-STAL) and Sanyou AI-Drug Accelerator (SAI-DA), together with NovoCodex’s extensive expertise in site-specific conjugation technology using unnatural amino acids. Through this collaboration, the two companies will jointly advance the development of innovative ADC therapeutics and work to deliver therapies with greater clinical value to cancer patients worldwide.
The core competitiveness of ADC therapeutics begins with the precision of antibody targeting and is realized through stable and controllable conjugation processes. NovoCodex’s proprietary site-specific conjugation technology platform, NovoCode™, precisely incorporates unnatural amino acids into antibodies to achieve defined and controllable conjugation sites, ensuring a highly homogeneous ADC product rather than the heterogeneous mixtures generated by traditional random conjugation approaches. This technology has been validated in the pivotal Phase III clinical trial of ARX788, and has supported ARX305 in demonstrating a favorable safety window and durable antitumor activity in patients with advanced renal cancer with high CD70 expression.
Sanyou Bio’s innovative ADC discovery platform was established in 2020 and has extensive experience in project design and process development, having successfully delivered more than 800 ADC conjugation projects. Particularly in the development of novel ADC molecular formats, Sanyou Bio has established capabilities in the discovery and design of dual-target ADCs and dual-payload ADCs. Dual-target ADCs enhance tumor selectivity by targeting two distinct antigen epitopes, while dual-payload ADCs expand the therapeutic window and help overcome drug resistance by incorporating two payloads with different mechanisms of action. These two innovative molecular formats are particularly well suited to have their design potential fully unlocked through NovoCodex’s NovoCode™ platform.
The two companies’ synergistic exploration in this area is expected to open up new technological possibilities for the development of next-generation ADC therapeutics.
The strategic collaboration will focus on the following key areas:
- Integration of Antibody Discovery and Site-Specific Conjugation:
Sanyou Bio will leverage the AI-STAL platform to screen antibody candidates with high internalization efficiency and high target specificity, while NovoCodex will use the NovoCode™ platform to develop site-specific conjugation processes, establishing a coordinated evaluation of antibody characteristics and conjugation strategies from the outset. - Joint Exploration of Dual-Target and Dual-Payload ADCs:
Combining Sanyou Bio’s molecular design capabilities with NovoCodex’s site-specific conjugation platform, the two companies will advance the evaluation of target combinations for dual-target ADCs, the screening of payload pairs for dual-payload ADCs, and preclinical proof-of-concept studies. - Building a Closed-Loop R&D Workflow:
The two companies will establish joint project teams to integrate the entire development process, from target research and antibody screening through conjugation process development and in vitro and in vivo evaluation, thereby accelerating the development of ADC candidates.
Dr. Xuejun Liang, Chairman and CEO of NovoCodex, said:
"The success of an ADC therapeutic depends, to a significant extent, on the degree of compatibility between the antibody molecule and the conjugation strategy. Sanyou Bio’s AI-STAL and SAI-DA platforms can rapidly identify high-quality antibody candidates from massive molecular libraries, providing critical support for us to move upstream from process development toward the molecular design stage. At the same time, Sanyou Bio’s capabilities in dual-target ADCs and dual-payload ADCs represent major directions in the development of innovative ADCs today. Through this collaboration, we look forward to jointly developing innovative ADC therapeutics with a wider safety window and more durable efficacy."
Dr. Guojun Lang, Founder and CEO of Sanyou Bio, said:
"NovoCodex’s site-specific conjugation technology based on unnatural amino acids has been extensively validated in clinical development. NovoCodex’s unnatural amino acid-based site-specific conjugation platform, NovoCode™, offers the key advantages of precise control over conjugation sites and a high degree of molecular homogeneity. The value of this collaboration lies in enabling Sanyou Bio’s molecular discovery capabilities and innovative ADC R&D capabilities to directly serve an ADC technology platform already validated in clinical development. This means that we can rapidly translate the value of dual-payload ADC engineering into therapeutic candidates within a more predictable conjugation system. It represents an efficient integration of ‘innovation at the source’ and ‘process validation,’ and we look forward to the opportunities this collaboration will bring."
This strategic partnership marks a key milestone for Sanyou as it deepens industry-wide collaboration across the ADC landscape. Drawing on each party’s complementary strengths in novel ADC development, Sanyou Bio and NovoCodex aim to streamline development of next-generation ADCs and build source-level innovation advantages for ADC drug discovery.
About Sanyou
Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals is a high-tech biopharmaceutical company driven by the mission of "To make it easy to develop new drugs worldwide". Guided by the vision "To become a front-runner in global innovative drug R&D", the company focuses on the R&D and commercialization of innovative drugs.
Built on its AI-STAL and Sanyou AI-Drug Accelerator (SAI-DA) platforms and driven by its innovative drug pipeline, Sanyou is committed to fundamentally addressing the key challenges at the source of innovative drug development.
Sanyou Bio has been dedicated to developing a world-class innovative biological drug R&D hub and to working collaboratively with partners worldwide to accelerate the development of innovative therapeutics. Headquartered in Shanghai, China, Sanyou has established global business centers across Asia, North America, and Europe, forming an international business network. The company currently operates and has planned over 20,000 square meters of R&D and GMP facilities.
Sanyou has established strong partnerships with more than 2,000 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide. It has signed over 100 collaborative R&D agreements and completed more than 3,000 drug discovery and development projects. More than 10 CPO programs have entered clinical development, including four that have reached Phase III clinical trials.
The company has filed over 180 invention patents, with more than 30 granted. It has also obtained over 10 national and international qualifications and system certifications, including National High-Tech Enterprise, Shanghai "Specialized and Innovative" Enterprise, ISO9001, and ISO27001.
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