GC Biopharma has signed an agreement with Novelty Nobility, a biotech company specializing in the development of antibody-based therapeutics, for the joint research and development of a novel treatment for geographic atrophy (GA).
 
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), one of the leading causes of blindness in the elderly, is divided into two types: dry and wet. Often occurring in the late stages of AMD progression, GA is an advanced form of dry AMD that causes damage to retinal tissue, eventually leading to blindness.
 
Under the terms of the agreement, GC Biopharma and Novelty Nobility will jointly research and develop antibody-based protein therapeutics for GA throughout all stages of the drug development lifecycle. As the first step of the collaboration, the two companies plan to strategically select novel proteins determined to play critical pathological roles in GA and identify therapeutic candidates accordingly.
 
“Novelty Nobility has been developing a next-generation treatment for wet AMD using a proprietary antibody for the past several years,” said Sang-gyu Park, CEO of Novelty Nobility. “We aim to leverage our in-house antibody drug development expertise in retinal disease to further expand into the GA treatment space. This collaboration with GC Biopharma will enable us to advance our research and potentially result in an innovative treatment that can be transformative for patients with GA.”
 
“We expect that this collaboration will generate synergy by combining Novelty Nobility’s experience in developing antibody-based treatments for retinal diseases with our expertise in protein therapeutics,” said Jaewook Jung, Head of Research and Development at GC Biopharma. “Through open innovation, we aim to actively expand our development efforts beyond our core areas of plasma derivatives and rare diseases to other therapeutic fields as well.”