SHANGHAI– Forlong Biotechnology, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation cytokine therapies for patients with unmet medical needs, announced a collaboration agreement with Shanghai Henlius Biotech, Inc. (2696.HK) to jointly develop an innovative cancer immunotherapy using an engineered cytokine.
Under the agreement, Forlong will fuse a monoclonal antibody—targeted and selected by Henlius—with an engineered cytokine using a site-specific approach. In return, Forlong will receive an upfront sponsor fee, research milestone payments, and additional licensing fees upon reaching certain development milestones.
Forlong’s proprietary cytokine platform includes multiple engineered molecules designed to activate specific immune cell subsets. Its lead candidate, FL115, is an interleukin-15 (IL-15) superagonist that stimulates natural killer (NK) cells and memory T cells. The therapy has demonstrated a favorable safety profile and early clinical responses in multiple Phase I trials in China and the U.S. and is currently being evaluated in combination with PD-(L)1 antibodies for advanced solid tumors and with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) in Phase II.
The company’s FL116 program, a preclinical candidate, combines an anti-PD-1 antibody with an engineered interleukin-18 (IL-18) variant designed to minimize binding to IL-18 binding protein (IL-18BP) and selectively activate T cells expressing both PD-1 and IL-18 receptors. Forlong is also advancing early discovery programs through its proprietary Syntokine Synthetic Cytokine Platform and AI-driven Intelligent Biomolecular Discovery Platform.
“Recent progress in cancer immunotherapy has shown tremendous advancement in harnessing the power of engineered cytokines through fusion with target proteins to activate desired segments of the immune system with precision,” said Dong Wei, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Forlong Biotechnology. “We are very excited by this collaboration and will continue to develop cytokine fusion proteins with target-specific immunostimulatory activity to significantly improve therapeutic outcomes through our internal programs such as FL115 and FL116, as well as future partnerships.”
“We are pleased to collaborate with Forlong Biotech to explore new frontiers in cancer immunotherapy,” said Jijun Yuan, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Henlius. “By combining Forlong’s synthetic cytokine platform with Henlius’ expertise in full-cycle biologics development, we will accelerate the creation of novel therapies that bring clinical benefits to cancer patients.”
