Alison Lehner, Asher M. Rubin, Robert Darwin, Collin J. Marshall
January 24, 2026
Sidley Represents BigHat Biosciences in Licensing Collaboration With Synaffix B.V. on the Development of an AI-Powered Antibody Design Platform

2 min
AI-made summary
- Sidley advised BigHat Biosciences, Inc
- in a licensing collaboration with Synaffix B.V., a Lonza company, to advance BigHat’s next-generation antibody drug conjugate (ADC) program
- BigHat’s Milliner™ platform was used to design an antibody paired with Synaffix’s ADC technologies
- The agreement grants BigHat access to Synaffix’s ADC technology platform and, following Lonza’s acquisition of Synaffix, to Lonza’s end-to-end ADC offering
- The legal team was led by Alison Lehner and Asher M
- Rubin.
Sidley represented BigHat Biosciences, Inc. (“BigHat”), in a licensing collaboration with Synaffix B.V. (“Synaffix”), a Lonza company (SWX:LONN). BigHat’s artificial intelligence/machine learning-powered antibody design platform, Milliner™, was used to design a highly differentiated antibody that was paired with Synaffix’s GlycoConnect™, HydraSpace®, and toxSYN® ADC technologies to generate a next-gen antibody drug conjugate (“ADC”). The collaboration with Synaffix/Lonza is instrumental to advancing BigHat’s next-gen ADC program, which is at IND-enabling stage and is on track to be BigHat’s first clinical-stage program. Under the terms of the agreement, BigHat will receive target-specific access to Synaffix’s late-clinical stage, site-specific ADC technology platform, which enables the transformation of antibodies into proprietary, best-in-class ADC products. As a result of Lonza’s acquisition of Synaffix in June 2023, BigHat will also gain access to Lonza’s end-to-end ADC offering. The team was led by Alison Lehner (Emerging Companies and Venture Capital) and Asher M. Rubin (Technology and Life Sciences Transactions), and included Robert Darwin (Private Equity) and Collin J. Marshall (Technology and Life Sciences Transactions). For additional information, please refer to the press release.~~Sidley represented BigHat Biosciences, Inc. (“BigHat”), in a licensing collaboration with Synaffix B.V. (“Synaffix”), a Lonza company (SWX:LONN). BigHat’s artificial intelligence/machine learning-powered antibody design platform, Milliner™, was used to design a highly differentiated antibody that was paired with Synaffix’s GlycoConnect™, HydraSpace®, and toxSYN® ADC technologies to generate a next-gen antibody drug conjugate (“ADC”). The collaboration with Synaffix/Lonza is instrumental to advancing BigHat’s next-gen ADC program, which is at IND-enabling stage and is on track to be BigHat’s first clinical-stage program. Under the terms of the agreement, BigHat will receive target-specific access to Synaffix’s late-clinical stage, site-specific ADC technology platform, which enables the transformation of antibodies into proprietary, best-in-class ADC products. As a result of Lonza’s acquisition of Synaffix in June 2023, BigHat will also gain access to Lonza’s end-to-end ADC offering. The team was led by Alison Lehner (Emerging Companies and Venture Capital) and Asher M. Rubin (Technology and Life Sciences Transactions), and included Robert Darwin (Private Equity) and Collin J. Marshall (Technology and Life Sciences Transactions). For additional information, please refer to the press release.
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Alison Lehner, Asher M. Rubin, Robert Darwin, Collin J. Marshall
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