AvantGen And Tanabe Research Laboratories Expand Collaboration For Therapeutic Antibody Discovery

AvantGen And Tanabe Research Laboratories Expand Collaboration For Therapeutic Antibody Discovery

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – AvantGen today announced the successful completion of a first cancer therapeutic antibody discovery program for Tanabe Research Laboratories USA, Inc. (TRL) and the initiation of a second program.

Under the terms of the collaboration, AvantGen is responsible for generating novel antibodies to specified cancer targets using its proprietary human antibody yeast display technology platform.  TRL has worldwide rights to develop and commercialize antibodies discovered by AvantGen.  AvantGen receives upfront payments and is eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties associated with the development and sale of any products derived from the collaboration.

“AvantGen’s antibody discovery and optimization services have been extensively validated against hundreds of targets primarily through numerous NIH SBIR I and II funded projects. Since the recent introduction of our new, state-of-the-art human antibody discovery and optimization platform, this second project with TRL represents the fifteenth de novo antibody discovery project we have initiated specifically for corporate partners,” said Xiaomin Fan, Ph.D., founder and president of AvantGen. “The platform utilizes advantageous technologies, including a robust yeast display system, large natural human antibody database and fully human antibody libraries, for the generation of antibodies to meet challenging design goals for therapeutic, diagnostic and research tool purposes.”

“The therapeutic antibody discovery program conducted by AvantGen was highly collaborative and was accomplished faster than expected, without the need to further optimize the antibodies in order to meet TRL’s design goals,” said Roland Newman, Ph.D., chief scientific officer for TRL. “We look forward to working together on the second program and others in the future.”

About AvantGen

AvantGen, Inc is a privately-held antibody discovery and optimization service provider and a leader in the use of yeast display technology for antibody discovery and optimization.  Founded by experts in the creation of antibody discovery and optimization platforms, AvantGen excels in the rapid, cost-effective generation of antibodies for therapeutic, diagnostic and research tool applications.The Company’s platform includes a robust yeast display system, large natural human antibody database, fully human antibody libraries comprised of over 100 billion antibody clones, flow cytometry-based and other screening technologies, as well as novel methodologies for rabbit monoclonal antibody generation. This versatile platform can be used to discover and optimize antibodies directed at specific disease targets, affinity mature existing antibodies to improve their binding properties and humanize antibodies to render non-human antibodies suitable for human therapeutic applications, as well as generate rabbit monoclonal antibodies for applications that need extremely high specificity, such as antibodies capable of distinguishing point mutations and post-translational modifications for IHC, and anti-idiotype antibodies for PK studies.  AvantGen’s partners include pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostic and government entities, many of which are repeat customers. For more information, visit www.avantgen.com.

Contact:
Tom Smart
Corporate Transactions
tsmart@avantgen.com
(858) 228-6827

About Tanabe Research Laboratories U.S.A., Inc. (TRL)

TRL is an independent subsidiary of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (MTPC) located in San Diego California, whose role is to discover and develop biological drug candidates for therapy. Currently, TRL’s efforts are directed towards antibody and antibody-related research to target tumors and other diseases with high unmet needs. TRL is establishing collaborative relationships with other companies and academic research organizations to further its goals of identifying preclinical therapeutic lead compounds for development. http://www.trlusa.com/

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faq Want to learn more?

  • Why Yeast?

    Yeast, or Saccharomyces cerevisiae aka brewer’s yeast to be exact, has the best of both worlds as a model organism for drug discovery. In selecting the right model, two opposing factors are: 1) finding an organism that can be used cost-effectively and ethically, and 2) being physiologically relevant by having it as similar as humans, the intended patients. This is where yeast has all the advantages: 1) it is unicellular, grows incredibly fast at a doubling rate of 90 minutes, and is easy and safe (non-pathogenic) to culture, meanwhile 2) as a eukaryote it can properly express, fold, and glycosylate proteins such as antibodies similar to mammals.

  • Yeast is “similar” but not the same as in humans with regards to post-translation modification (PTM) of proteins such as glycosylation?

    Correct, there are slight differences in the PTM profiles of proteins expressed in yeast versus mammals. However, we recombinantly express our lead antibodies in HEK293 or CHO cells and rarely observe a loss in activity. This is in stark contrast with E. coli-based systems like phage or cell-free, where bacteria lack protein glycosylation machinery.

  • Is affinity maturation required after using one of your platforms?

    Due to our large size rationally-designed Germliner™ library collection coupled with our rapid cell sorting based screening, we consistently obtain single-digit and subnM affinity antibodies with optimal developable characteristics. Interestingly, our popular AvantGeneer affinity maturation platform has been frequently used to optimize client antibodies that were originally discovered with hybridoma and human transgenic mouse platforms.

  • My target is a GPCR. Will your platform work?

    We have had success with multi-transmembrane proteins such as GPCRs, by using virus-like-particles (VLPs), nanodiscs, and client-designed variants with increased solubility.

  • What materials should I provide?

    We typically use various amounts of biotinylated, DyLight™ 650 conjugated, and unlabeled antigens for all projects. It’s important that both labeled and unlabeled antigens are QC’ed by provider, third party, and/or AvantGen. >0.5 mg/mL concentration, >80% monomer percentage, and >90% purity. Preferred buffer is PBS and no tris-based buffers please.

    Estimated Material Amounts*

    Application Stage Discovery Affinity Maturation Rabbit mAb
    All stages 1.5-2 mg biotinylated or 2-3 mg unlabeled 0.5 mg biotinylated or 1 mg unlabeled 2 mg unlabeled and 1 mg biotinylated
    FACS and screening 0.5-1 mg biotinylated or 1-2 mg unlabeled 0.2-0.5 mg biotinylated or 0.5-1 mg unlabeled 1 mg biotinylated and 0.2 mg unlabeled
    Screening only 0.2 mg biotinylated or 0.2-0.5 mg unlabeled 0.2 mg biotinylated or 0.2-0.5 mg unlabeled 0.2-0.5 mg unlabeled

    *Assuming 50 kDa antigen. AvantGen can bioconjugate and QC as needed.

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