Global biotechnology company Nona Biosciences, a subsidiary of HBM Holding Limited (HKEX:02142), announced on Wednesday a strategic collaboration with Swiss pharmaceutical company Lonza (SIX:LONN) to develop best-in-class single-domain antibody-based blood-brain barrier (BBB)-crossing technology for central nervous system (CNS) diseases.

The collaboration will use Nona Biosciences' proprietary Harbour Mice fully human HCAb platform to discover and develop next-generation single-domain antibody-based blood-brain barrier (BBB)-crossing technologies. Leveraging the platform's ability to generate fully human HCAbs and VHH binders, the partnership aims to establish a best-in-class BBB-crossing technology capable of enabling the delivery of a diverse range of therapeutic modalities into the CNS, and unlocking new opportunities in CNS drug development and technology licensing. As part of the collaboration, Lonza's protein development expertise, GS Gene Expression System and GlycoConnect bioconjugation technology will complement Nona's platform by supporting the optimisation and broader application of selected BBB-crossing candidates.

Under the terms of the agreement, Nona is entitled to receive upfront and option payments from Lonza. The parties will also share revenues generated from future licensing agreements pursuant to the collaboration.