Shanghai and San Diego, March 01st 2018. Elpiscience Biopharmaceutical, Ltd. (Elpiscience), a biotech company focusing on the discovery and development of next-generation cancer immunotherapies, announced today that it entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Inhibrx, Inc., to develop and commercialize its tetravalent bi-specific antibody that targets PD-L1 and 4-1BB, also referred to as INBRX-105 or ES101, in mainland China, Hongkong, Macau and Taiwan.

ES101, as a first-in-class bispecific antibody, has the potential to become the next-generation immunotherapeutic drug. It was designed based on the concept of “de-brake and add gas” for immune cell activation. De-braking is accomplished by blocking PD-1/PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor interaction, whilst adding gas is achieved by 4-1BB-mediated immune cell engagement and activation.

About ES101:

ES101 is a tetravalent bispecific antibody that contains four binding domains, two targeting PD-L1 and two targeting 4-1BB, with a molecular weight being only two-thirds of that of a conventional antibody. Based on high PD-L1 expression in the tumor microenvironment and ES101’s unique antibody engineering, ES101 can conditionally activate 4-1BB upon binding to PD-L1. This would allow for more efficient and targeted tumor killing by immune cells.

About Elpiscience:

Elpiscience is a top-tier investor backed biopharmaceutical company focusing on cancer immunotherapy. The company is committed to leading the next generation of cancer immunotherapies for the benefit of cancer patients worldwide. Elpiscience’s innovations cover a wide range of immunology targets with a focus on innate immunity and tumor microenvironment.

About Inhibrx:

Inhibrx is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing a broad pipeline of novel biologic therapeutic candidates. Inhibrx utilizes diverse methods of protein engineering to address the specific requirements of complex target and disease biology, including its proprietary sdAb platform. The Inhibrx pipeline is focused on oncology, orphan diseases and infectious diseases. Inhibrx has collaborations with Celgene and bluebird bio and has received awards from several granting agencies, including NIH, NIAID and CARB-X.