AbClon's core technology related to its CD30-targeting CAR-T therapy has received final patent registration from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. As the joint research with the University of Pennsylvania, a global hub for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) research, has borne fruit, expectations for technology export are rising.
AbClon said Thursday that it has been listed as a co-patent holder following joint research with the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), which created Kymriah, the world's first CAR-T therapy, and boasts the highest authority in the field. The achievement is regarded as official recognition of its technological completeness and external credibility at the highest global level.
The patent concerns a novel antibody that precisely targets the CD30 protein, which is markedly overexpressed on the surface of cancer cells in patients with malignant lymphoma, including Hodgkin lymphoma, and the next-generation CAR-T treatment technology applying it. Because CD30 has an extremely low expression rate in normal cells, targeting it enables treatment that selectively and powerfully destroys only cancer cells while minimizing damage to normal cells.
In particular, because the antibody is designed to recognize an entirely new antigen-binding site (epitope) different from existing CD30-targeting antibodies, it is expected to offer a new paradigm of treatment for patients with refractory cancer who do not respond to existing therapies or have developed resistance. The global Hodgkin lymphoma treatment market is projected to reach approximately 5.5 trillion won in 2026 and to grow to about 11 trillion won by 2034. Expectations are also growing that the technology could be exported at the current preclinical stage if UPenn's global network with big pharma is utilized.
An AbClon official stressed, "With the securing of this global intellectual property right as a starting point, we will rapidly advance the research and development of the CD30 CAR-T pipeline while striving to realize the technology transfer that the two institutions are discussing."
