NextCure and LegoChem Biosciences Enter into Collaboration and Co-Development Agreement to Develop Antibody Drug Conjugates

BELTSVILLE, Md. and DAEJEON, South Korea, Nov. 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NextCure, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXTC) and LegoChem Biosciences, Inc. (LCB, KOSDAQ: 141080) today announced a collaboration and co-development agreement focused on generating a B7-H4 antibody drug conjugate (ADC) and options for two additional targets. The B7-H4 ADC will utilize NextCure’s B7-H4 antibody and LCB’s ConjuAll^TM ADC technology.

Under the terms of the agreement, both parties will equally share the costs to develop the molecules and profits on commercialized products. The parties will utilize their respective product development capabilities to generate the B7-H4 ADC and advance it to the clinic. In addition, there are options for the parties to nominate two additional targets for ADC development beyond B7-H4.

“We are excited to work with LCB, and apply ConjuAll^TM, a leading ADC technology, to add a new treatment modality to our B7-H4 program,” said Timothy Mayer, NextCure’s Chief Operating Officer. “We remain committed to developing novel immunomedicines using multiple modalities to address the significant unmet needs of cancer patients not adequately addressed by available therapies.”

“The initiation of this collaboration with NextCure represents another important milestone for LCB as we continue to build our ADC pipeline and seek to demonstrate the potential of our ADC platform in a wide range of different tumors,” said Yong-Zu Kim, LCB’s Chief Executive Officer. “B7-H4 ADC would potentially offer a first-in-class opportunity for a target expressed on a broad range of tumor types, and I look forward to progress in early stage studies.”

About NextCure, Inc.
NextCure is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering and developing novel, first-in-class immunomedicines to treat cancer and other immune-related diseases. Through our proprietary FIND-IO™ platform, we study various immune cells to discover and understand targets and structural components of immune cells and their functional impact in disease in order to develop immunomedicines. Our initial focus is to bring hope and new treatments to patients who do not respond to current cancer therapies, patients whose cancer progresses despite treatment and patients with cancer types not adequately addressed by available therapies. http://www.nextcure.com

About LCB:
LegoChem Biosciences (LCB, KOSDAQ: 141080) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development of next-generation novel therapeutics utilizing its proprietary medicinal drug discovery technology LegoChemistry and ADC platform technology ConjuAll™. Since its foundation in 2006, LCB has focused on the research and development of Antibody-Drug-Conjugates (ADCs), antibiotics, anti-fibrotic and anticancer therapeutics based on proprietary platform technologies. For more information, please visit the website at http://www.legochembio.com.

NextCure’s Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Statements made in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Words such as “expects,” “believes,” “intends,” “hope,” “forward” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Examples of forward-looking statements in this press release include, among others, statements about NextCure’s plans, objectives, and intentions with respect to the discovery of immunomedicine targets and the discovery and development of immunomedicines. Forward-looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others: our limited operating history and no products approved for commercial sale; our history of significant losses; our need to obtain additional financing; risks related to clinical development, including that early clinical data may not be confirmed by later clinical results; risks that pre-clinical research may not be confirmed in clinical trials; risks related to marketing approval and commercialization; and the unproven approach to the discovery and development of product candidates based on our FIND-IO platform. More detailed information on these and additional factors that could affect NextCure’s actual results are described in NextCure’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including NextCure’s most recent Form 10-K and subsequent Form 10-Q. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. NextCure assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, even if expectations change.

Investor Inquiries
Timothy Mayer, Ph.D.
NextCure, Inc.
Chief Operating Officer
(240) 762-6486
IR@nextcure.com