Technology

Overview

Overview

Antibodies are ideal candidates for drug therapy due to their high target specificity and ability to carry out distinct biological functions. However, full therapeutic potential has been difficult to achieve using only humanized antibodies. Production of all currently available humanized antibody-based therapeutics involves immunization or transfection of a non-human host species. While some humanized antibodies have been successful in the marketplace, they are not 100% human and carry the inherent risk of toxicity and adverse events associated with exposing a human to non-human proteins.  Immunologix’s novel platform technology transforms naïve human B-cells into fully human IgG monoclonal antibodies in an in vitro setting.  In simplest terms, this technology replicates the body's innate capacity for producing and differentiating antibodies in a laboratory environment. The dialogue below more fully examines the difference between humanized and fully human antibodies as well as the breakthrough therapeutic advantage that Immunologix’s technology will bring to bear.

Can antibodies be produced to target specific antigens?

Yes. Numerous antibody-based therapeutics have already become successful blockbuster drugs.  Rituxan™, Herceptin™, ReoPro™, Remicade™, and Campath™ are a few examples. To date, Immunologix has succeeded in the creation of twelve antibodies against three different classes of antigen (viral, bacterial and auto-antigen). This progress confirms not only our ability to produce fully human antibodies against any antigen target but as we move forward will also allow us to address both unmet medical needs and to deliver improved therapeutics in well-established markets.

What is the difference between a humanized antibody and a fully human antibody?

The two main categories of humanized antibodies are transgenic mice and phage display. In the case of transgenic mice, mice which have had their innate antibody genes replaced with human antibody genes are immunized with an antigen to produce human antibodies. As some antigens are toxic, there are several antibodies that are not producible. In addition, the harvesting, plating, screening of B-cells, isolation of mAb genes and cloning into a production cell line requires a significant investment of time and money to produce only a specific strain of antibody. 

In phage display, bacteriophages are engineered to display human monoclonal antibodies on their surface by inserting a human antibody gene into the phage population. The antibodies are then selected via antigen binding. This carries a number of disadvantages including limitations on the sequence size and binding accessibility of some proteins as well as toxicity concerns.

Immunologix generates 100% human antibodies with human protein sequences which then permits the development of products with an optimal safety profile. 

The core of the Immunologix technology begins with naïve B-cells obtained from discarded immune tissue (tonsils or whole blood). By utilizing discarded tissue or whole blood, complications associated with tissue collection techniques are prevented. The time and cost associated with humanizing an antibody are also eliminated along with the risk of damaging the original potency of the antibody between its initial selection and final version after humanization. Lastly, Immunologix’s fully human antibody technology has the ability to generate high-affinity human antibodies to theoretically any and all antigen structures, a feat that has not and cannot be accomplished by current humanized antibody technology.