Trio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("TRIO"), a cancer therapeutics company developing novel dual action antibody drugs, TRIObody, and novel dual action antibody drug conjugates, TRIObody Drug Conjugate (TDC) and Ajinomoto Bio-Pharma Services ("Aji Bio-Pharma"), a leading provider of biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing services, are pleased to announce a development collaboration agreement to evaluate AJICAP, a proprietary site-specific conjugation technology offered by Aji Bio-Pharma for the development of TDCs. The AJICAP technology will be used to conjugate a cytotoxic payload to TRIO's lead oncology candidate with TRIO evaluating functionality of the TDC.

TDCs are a first-in-class ADC with dual functionality. TRIO's dual action TDC utilizes targeted payload delivery to stop both tumor growth and immunosuppression. By generating a less immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, TDC enhances activation of tumor-specific immune effector cells further facilitating cancer cell destruction.

AJICAP is a robust site-specific conjugation technology compatible with varied antibody modalities. AJICAP's advantage is its "off-the-shelf" feature, allowing any antibody drug at any stage of development to be conjugated to drug-payloads of choice without the need to modify the sequence. In contrast to traditional Cys-maleimide and Lys-succinimide conjugation technologies, AJICAP conjugation is robust and generates ADCs with high yields.

"We are very excited to collaborate with Aji Bio-Pharma for evaluating AJICAP to develop our proprietary dual action TDC. The AJICAP conjugation technology marks a new beginning in the ADC field, allowing generation of ADCs with site-specific conjugation without change in antibody sequence, a rate-limiting step in the development of site-specific ADCs. Setting an early collaboration with Aji Bio-Pharma will ease our cGMP plans for clinical development," noted Dr. Shiva Bhowmik, Founder + CEO of Trio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Dr. Brian Mendelsohn, Director, Process Development and Technology Transfer at Aji Bio-Pharma stated, "AJICAP was developed to create novel ADCs with therapeutic window enhancements, while shortening the development timeline. We are excited to collaborate with TRIO as they advance TDC technology, developing a new class of ADCs. This collaboration marks a new avenue of development in the ADC field."

Dr. Tatsuya Okuzumi, Associate General Manager, Business Development, Ajinomoto Co, Inc., added, "We are very excited to collaborate with TRIO in the development of dual action ADCs. As a member of the Ajinomoto Group, Aji Bio-Pharma houses a talented and dedicated team of ADC scientists and strong CMC capabilities, which will benefit TRIO's development of this novel ADC."