The two bispecific antibodies were developed using the company’s protein conjugation technology, Dock-and-Lock (DNL).
The two anti-CD20/CD74 antibodies showed inhibition in the growth of MCL cell lines, as well as other NHL cell lines, at a low concentration of 10 nanomolar without any secondary, crosslinking antibody.
However, neither parental antibody, alone or in combination, was active under the same conditions, suggesting the requirement of placing CD74 and CD20 in close proximity for the observed cytotoxicity.
Chemotherapy along with the chimeric anti-CD20 antibody, rituximab, increases overall survival but the disease relapses in virtually all patients.