Gui-Dong ZHU

CEO
SparX Biopharmaceutical Corp
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Gui-Dong Zhu is the founder and CEO of the SparX Group. He is a 27-year veteran in pharmaceutical industry, 22 Years with various leadership responsibilities at Abbott/Abbvie, contributing to the development of one product and six candidates in different stages of clinical trials. Following the incorporation of SparX Group in 2018, Gui-Dong established sophisticated and integrated technology platforms for antibody development. These include the SparxNanoTM platform for discovering highly potent and specific single-domain antibodies, the Nab2-ADCTM technology for developing bifunctional and biparatopic nanobody-drug conjugates, and the SynMabTM platform for optimizing multi-specific antibodies. Gui-Dong also has expertise in other aspects of pharmaceutical research including structural biology, drug delivery, antibody manufacturing, and all phases of preclinical studies. Gui-Dong is author or co-author of more than one hundred publications of original papers, reviews, patents and presentations, along with over six hundred commentaries. Gui-Dong has also been an invited and plenary speaker in a number of venues both nationally and internationally.

Speech title & Synopsis

Nab2-ADC: Revolutionizing Antibody-Drug Conjugates with Enhanced Targeting and Safety

In this presentation, we will introduce Nab2-ADC, a groundbreaking Nano Antibody Bifunctional Biparatopic Antibody Drug Conjugate with the potential to become a true "magic bullet" in cancer therapy. Thanks to its nanobody-based design and smaller molecular weight, Nab2-ADC addresses critical limitations of current ADCs, including the risk of interstitial lung disease (ILD), suboptimal targeting efficiency, slow tumor penetration, and off-target toxicity. Nab2-ADC mitigates ILD risks, a significant issue with existing ADC therapies, by depleting the Fc region responsible for macrophage uptake, thus paving the way for safer treatment options. Furthermore, Nab2-ADC enhances tumor penetration through the use of nano-sized bispecific antibodies, ensuring deeper and more efficient drug delivery to the tumor microenvironment, resulting in maximized therapeutic effects even in hard-to-reach tumor cells. The platform also boasts advanced targeting efficiency, leveraging bifunctional antibodies to recognize two distinct epitopes on separate antigens or biparatopic antibodies to bind two epitopes on the same antigen simultaneously, significantly boosting targeting precision. Additionally, the dual-targeting strategy of Nab2-ADC reduces off-target toxicity by minimizing non-specific binding to healthy tissues, thereby enhancing specificity and safety. Moreover, the SparX uniQonTM site-specific conjugation and the DiturboTM stable cell line development technologies provide innovative solutions for the manufacturing challenges of ADCs. Join us to learn how Nab2-ADC represents a paradigm shift in ADC technology, offering promising solutions for the future of targeted cancer therapy.