More bang for the monoclonal buck

MORRIS PLAINS, N.J.—At the recent meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held in Atlanta, scientists from Immunomedics and its wholly owned subsidiary IBC Pharmaceuticals presented their efforts to construct two new bispecific antibodies that bind both CD20 and CD22 antigens on B lymphocytes. The monoclonals were generated using the company's proprietary Dock-and-Lock (DNL) technology, which it recently described in PNAS.

 

The fully humanized antibodies are comprised of fragments of anti-CD20 and –CD22 antibodies and showed stability in both human and mouse sera. According to the researchers, both bispecific antibodies inhibited growth of human lymphoma cell lines in vitro and one of the antibodies showed 1000-fold higher potency when compared to treatment with humanized anti-CD20 alone. The biologics are now being tested in animal models of human lymphoma.

 

"This research confirms our conviction and expanding patent portfolio involving the development and use of bispecific antibodies for improved cancer therapy, which we believe introduces a new paradigm in the immunotherapy of cancer," says Cynthia L. Sullivan, Immunomedics president and CEO. "It also validates our recently described DNL platform technology for making stable fusion proteins, in this case comprising bispecific or bifunctional antibodies for use in cancer therapy,"