ADC Bio secures funding for US expansion and development of new bioconjugation method

Innovative biotechnology company, ADC Biotechnology, has secured £1.14 million in funding from Downing LLP to assist the company in its US expansion and aid in the development of an advanced bioconjugation method.

Earlier this year (2018), the company had announced that it had started developing and internally validating its new upstream bioconjugation approach, leveraging its patented Lock-Release technology to save manufacturing time and costs. This new ADC manufacturing approach is hoped to offer a transformative change for the industry and a conceptual design for implementation of a fill-finish operation within the existing Deeside facility.

“We are very pleased to have been selected by Downing LLP and BioScience Managers for this investment and we look forward to putting the capital to great use in two major elements of our overall strategy for continued growth,” said Charlie Johnson, CEO of ADC Bio. “The funding will in part help us to continue to lead further industry innovation, specifically, the investigation and validation of our upstream bioconjugation method — the benefits of which we then intend to bring to the market. Moreover, the investment also provides us with more resources to implement the latest phase in our business development plan, namely, securing more contracts from the main US market in our drive to further expand our international client base and thereby to increase total revenues.”

Richard Lewis, director at Downing LLP commented: “ADC Bio is an incredibly innovative CDMO, helping its clients to develop a new class of drugs to combat cancer. The healthcare industry is growing globally and it will continue to grow, funded by the increasing requirements of not just Western economies but those in China, India and Japan. A key driver of the market opportunity is the increasing demands on healthcare generally, and for cures for diseases previously without effective treatment.”