South Korean drug developer to lead deep-dive partnering sessions around first-in-class ADC pipeline, spotlighting GENA-104 and GENA-120 after strong AACR 2026 data readout

Genome & Company logo. [Genome & Company]
Genome & Company logo. [Genome & Company]

Genome & Company, a South Korean drug development firm, is pushing to accelerate global technology licensing deals and strategic partnerships by showcasing its internally developed next-generation antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) pipeline at the world's largest biotech conference.

The company announced Thursday it will attend the 2026 BIO International Convention (BIO USA), scheduled June 22-25 in San Diego, California, where it plans to advance partnering discussions in earnest.

Genome & Company has been a consistent presence at BIO USA, using the annual event to coordinate business collaboration opportunities with global pharmaceutical companies. This year's participation carries added weight: it comes shortly after the company presented strong research results for its core ADC pipeline at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting (AACR 2026) in April, and the company expects the conference to deepen technology transfer talks with global partners that have already expressed interest in its new drug candidates.

At the event, the company will put its first-in-class drug candidates front and center. The ADC lineup will feature GENA-104 ADC, which targets CNTN4, and GENA-120, which targets ITGB4. Alongside these, the company plans to hold in-depth one-on-one meetings with major global pharmaceutical companies and investors, drawing on key assets that also include GENC-116, a small-molecule new chemical entity (NCE) targeting NUAK1 kinase.

Genome & Company has already demonstrated its R&D capabilities on the global stage through its proprietary drug development platform GNOCLE™, having secured two consecutive technology transfer agreements with global pharmaceutical companies Debiopharm and Ellipsis Pharma in the novel-target pipeline space.

"BIO USA is not a place to gauge interest — it is a place to move forward the discussions that have already been underway," Hong Yu-seok, chief executive of Genome & Company, said. "We will directly demonstrate the competitiveness of our pipeline in the first-in-class ADC space, where global big pharma is most actively seeking partners, and translate that into tangible partnership outcomes."


silverpaper@heraldcorp.com