Catalent Pharma Solutions  has entered into a collaboration with Sanofi -Aventis Recherche & Développement, a Sanofi company, to implement Catalent's proprietary SMARTag technology in the development of antibody drug conjugates. Under the agreement, Catalent will develop site-specifically modified antibody conjugates using Sanofi's proprietary antibodies.

The collaborative work will involve teams at Sanofi, and Catalent's facility, in Emeryville, California, which was formerly headquarters to Redwood Bioscience Inc. Catalent announced in October 2014 that it had purchased the remaining stake in Redwood, following the successful achievement of in vivo and in vitro proof of concept milestones, recent favorable in vivo toxicology data, and customer interest in the SMARTag technology.

The proprietary SMARTag site-specific protein modification and cytotoxin-linker technologies developed by Redwood enable the generation of homogenous bioconjugates engineered to enhance potency, safety and stability. The technology employs natural post translational modifications found in human cells to create one or more aldehyde tags at designated sites on protein molecules. These chemical handles are then stably conjugated to cytotoxic payloads to prevent their systemic release. The SMARTag platform enables payload positioning and defined stoichiometry of payload–protein ratios.

Source: Catalent Pharma Solutions