From left, Panolos Bioscience Inc. CEO Hye-sung Lim and SyntekaBio, Inc. CEO Jong-seon Jeong attend the MOU signing ceremony. (Photo courtesy of SyntekaBio)

[Song Young Doo, Edaily Reporter] SyntekaBio, Inc., an AI-driven drug discovery company, said on the 4th that it has signed a memorandum of understanding(MOU) with Panolos Bioscience Inc., a biotech specializing in multispecific antibody therapeutics, to co-develop next-generation multispecific antibody drugs.

Multispecific antibodies are engineered to modulate multiple targets with a single molecule. By acting on several immune pathways involved in complex diseases such as cancer, they offer a strategy to control multiple mechanisms at once. Although this modality is gaining attention as a next-generation therapeutic option, traditional antibody discovery still relies heavily on random screening, making it difficult to secure a sufficient pool of antibodies optimized for each target. There are also fundamental experimental limits in exploring all possible combinations to identify the best molecular architecture.

To overcome these constraints, SyntekaBio has developed Ab-ARS™(Antibody-AI Recommendation System), an AI-based antibody discovery platform that accelerates the search, design and optimization of antibody candidates. The five antibody candidates selected for this collaboration were discovered through SyntekaBio‘s AI-driven Asset Program, which is designed to generate both antibody and small-molecule candidates. Within this framework, Ab-ARS™ serves as the core engine for antibody discovery.

Under the new agreement, antibody candidates identified by Ab-ARS™ will be combined with Panolos Bioscience’s proprietary αART® platform to generate next-generation multispecific antibody therapeutics. The partners noted that PB203, a trispecific immuno-oncology candidate built on αART® technology, was recently selected as a national new drug development nonclinical project in Korea.

PB203 simultaneously modulates VEGF, PlGF and PD-L1. For the five antibodies selected under the MOU, Panolos Bioscience will take charge of production and in vitro efficacy assessment. SyntekaBio plans to consider potential license-out opportunities for these assets at a later stage. The two companies will jointly pursue the full development value chain, including preclinical and clinical development and global out-licensing.

Panolos Bioscience has accumulated experience in antibody-based immuno-oncology drug development. Its CEO, Hye-sung Lim, holds a Ph.D. from POSTECH and an EMBA from KAIST, and has more than 20 years of experience in protein engineering and structure-based drug design. SyntekaBio expects the collaboration to accelerate the expansion of its platform into the antibody therapeutics space. In particular, AI-powered multispecific antibody discovery is an area where many global pharmaceutical companies are actively seeking partnerships and licensing opportunities.

“By combining our technological strengths, the two companies will lead the development of next-generation multispecific therapeutics,” said Jong-seon Jeong, CEO of SyntekaBio. “Building on the competitiveness of our AI drug discovery platform, we aim to generate tangible results in global markets.”

Hye-sung Lim, CEO of Panolos Bioscience, added, “SyntekaBio‘s AI capabilities and our multispecific antibody engineering expertise will create strong synergy. Together, we intend to build a high-value pipeline of multispecific antibody therapeutics with meaningful clinical impact.”