Innovative Medicines based on ImmunoModulatory Biologics
About IMBiologics
Research and Development of Antibody Therapeutics
We focus on protecting human health by bringing back homeostasis, a physiological balance of a healthy person, through developing novel innovative immunomodulatory antibody drugs.
We are accelerating the development of innovative immunomodulatory antibody therapeutics to treat autoimmune diseases and cancer with our own platform technology and in-licensed drug candidates.
Published: August 22, 2025, 09:20 | Updated: August 22, 2025, 09:34 By Sungmin Kim, BioSpectator
Applying GeneQuantum’s linker-payload technology to the multivalent antibody ‘ePENDY’… “Advantages
for proteins with low target expression and rapid internalization compared to IgG”
IMBiologics announced on the 22nd that it has signed a joint research agreement with Chinese biotech company GeneQuantum for the co-development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).
IMBiologics is developing autoimmune disease therapies and immuno-oncology treatments based on its proprietary multivalent antibody backbone technology platform called ‘ePENDY (enhanced/engineered PENtamer boDY)’
Under this agreement, IMBiologics will jointly develop a new modality of multivalent antibody-based ADCs by combining GeneQuantum’s linker and payload technologies.
IMBiologics will identify and produce promising ADC targets using the ePENDY platform, while GeneQuantum will apply its linker and payload technologies to create ‘ePENDY ADC’ molecules and conduct characterization and efficacy evaluations. Specific ADC targets and contract terms were not disclosed.
IMBiologics’ ePENDY technology, unlike IgG antibodies that have two antigen-binding variable domains, is based on an IgM structure and can bind to up to 10 target proteins. This results in high overall avidity for antigens and creates a clustering effect, making it suitable for agonistic properties that activate immune cells.
Recently, IMBiologics discovered that the ePENDY technology demonstrates higher efficacy than IgG antibodies for proteins with low target expression or at low effective doses, and it internalizes into cells faster than IgG antibodies after binding to target proteins. Based on these characteristics, the company expects that ADCs using ePENDY can overcome the limitations of existing IgG-based ADCs.
IMBiologics CEO Ha Kyung-sik expressed his satisfaction with the collaboration with GeneQuantum, emphasizing that this joint research marks an important global partnership that leverages the advantages of ePENDY over IgG antibodies. He noted that the project holds significant meaning in terms of the completeness and scalability of the platform technology, and added that the company will continue to pursue various collaborations and business achievements with global partners using the ePENDY platform.
GeneQuantum CEO Qin Gang stated that the partnership represents an important opportunity to expand and globalize the company’s proprietary enzymatic conjugation technology. He expressed expectations that combining this technology with IMBiologics’ next-generation ePENDY platform will enable the development of next-generation ADCs that target a broader range of cancers, overcome tumor heterogeneity and drug resistance, and achieve an improved therapeutic window.