As per the terms of the collaboration, BAC developed CaptureSelect custom affinity ligands for use in monitoring Genmab UniBody drug candidates in preclinical studies and clinical trials, and delivered positive results from the initial feasibility study.
Genmab’s UniBody is an antibody technology for creating a monovalent non-activating and stable antibody format with an anticipated longer therapeutic window than current small antibody formats.
Genmab said that UniBody molecules are suitable as therapeutics when monovalent binding to the target is required and no immune effector functions are desired, for instance for the treatment of asthma, inflammation, and cardiovascular and infectious diseases.
BAC’s affinity ligands for UniBody molecules were designed to distinguish between monovalent UniBody molecules and native IgG4 antibodies, thereby avoiding binding to the Fab-domain of the UniBody.
BAC CEO Laurens Sierkstra said that they were delighted to have completed the feasibility study on the custom-made CaptureSelect affinity ligands for Genmab.
“Besides the lack of the hinge region, some of Genmab’s monovalent UniBody molecules differ only in a few amino acids compared to the native homodimer IgG4 molecules, and the challenge was to create affinity ligands targeting those regions,” Sierkstra said.
“This success confirms that our CaptureSelect platform can consistently produce highly specific affinity ligands and can discriminate between proteins differing in only a few amino acids.”