May 15, 2017 (Vol. 37, No. 10)

Antibody Drug Advantages

Antibodies offer several favorable characteristics such as high specificity, minimal off-target effects and good safety profiles. By triggering several immune effector mechanisms, antibodies can effectively neutralize pathogens, inactivate target antigens or destroy malignant cells. In addition, because antibody manufacturing follows a similar process regardless of the intended drug target, costs and risks of development are lower than with new small molecule drugs. Given these advantages, it is perhaps not surprising that antibodies have proven enormously successful both medically and commercially, transforming treatment and producing more than 50% of all drug sales, reaching a total of $80B globally in revenue in 2015. With over 500 new antibodies in the pipeline, the trend is expected to continue and antibody drug sales are projected to nearly double by 2020, reaching $150B globally.

OmniAb®, an Outstanding Antibody Discovery Platform

Although a few therapeutic antibodies on the market were identified using in vitro techniques, the vast majority of approved monoclonal antibodies were generated using mice. Immunization of rodents leverages complex immune processes, notably antibody affinity maturation and repertoire selection, that cannot be recreated completely in vitro. However, to avoid triggering a harmful immune reaction in human patients, non-human immunoglobulin (Ig) sequences must be eliminated from rodent antibodies. This can be accomplished through humanization of antibodies produced from endogenous rodent Ig genes. However, it is less time consuming and risky to simply immunize transgenic animals bearing human immunoglobulin sequences. As part of its mission to provide innovative technologies to enhance drug discovery, Ligand Pharmaceuticals offers an antibody platform called OmniAb. Since its introduction five years ago, the OmniAb platform has proved a highly successful antibody discovery engine, with over 300 successfully completed antibody discovery projects to date, including four IND submissions and testing in human patients.

The OmniAb platform encompasses three animal models, OmniRat®, OmniFlic®, and OmniMouse®. All produce diverse, high titer antigen-specific antibodies and offer several important advantages over competing humanized rodent platforms:

  • Freedom to operate worldwide and all indications
  • Complementary humanized rat and mouse models for broader epitope coverage and greater antibody diversity
  • Development of bi-specific antibodies with a common light chain
  • Potential outsourcing of animal care and antibody generation to Ligand-approved animal service providers and contract research organizations (CROs)

A Unique Patented Technology

Various transgenic mice expressing human antibodies have been developed using embryonic stem (ES) cell technology. The ES methods developed in mice proved unworkable in rat, initially limiting commercial antibody discovery to a few transgenic mouse models. The OmniAb platform is based on groundbreaking work in gene editing to overcome this problem. As reported in Science in 2009, a sequence-specific Zn-finger exonuclease was used to inactivate the endogenous Ig loci in rat embryos, enabling creation of OmniRat, the first rat model for human antibody discovery1-4. For many target indications and antigens, murine models are encumbered by existing intellectual property (IP) and on-going litigation presents a considerable risk. In contrast, the OmniAb platform is protected by numerous patents and offers partners freedom to operate across all potential targets and indications worldwide. With the OmniAb platform, it is possible to generate diverse therapeutic human antibodies in both rat and mouse, without concern of infringement.

OmniAb Models Maximize Probability of Success (POS)

The OmniAb platform encompasses three different transgenic animal models for human antibody discovery: 

  • OmniRat 2.0, launched in 2017, harbors a complete set of human VH genes and both light chains for replicating a full range of human mono-specific antibodies
  • OmniMouse, developed as a complement to the OmniRat, expands the universe of possibly antibodies that can be elicited by a given antigen
  • OmniFlic, like OmniRat, bears a complete human VH locus, but has a fixed light chain type (kappa) to facilitate engineering and production of bi-specific antibodies

All three OmniAb animal models are patent protected and enable generation of fully human antibodies with high affinity, specificity, expression, solubility and stability. Because each individual animal mounts a different antibody response following immunization with a target antigen, the availability of both rat and mouse OmniAb models is a key platform advantage. Immunizing both OmniRat and OmniMouse ensures drug discoverers more ‘shots on goal’ and the greatest probability of success.

The OmniAb platform has been extensively characterized and validated14. Rodent antibody expression is inactivated and antibody generation includes all transgenic human VH and VK and VL genes. B-cell development, antibody production, and affinity maturation occur normally. Immunization produces a diverse antibody repertoire of human Ig’s, including high-titer, high-affinity (subnanomolar) antibodies with broad epitope coverage, and complementarity-determining regions (CDR) diversity and length similar to that seen in a human immune response. 

Partnering for Success

Ligand provides access to all OmniAb animal platforms under flexible licensing terms suitable for small biotech as well as large pharmaceutical companies. The focus of every deal is on maximizing program success. Options include unlimited or single-target licenses with annual access fee, clinical milestone payments and royalties or unlimited access without milestones or royalties. So far about 30 companies have licensed the OmniAb platform, including Genentech, Roche, Pfizer, Merck KGaA, Amgen, Celgene and Janssen. The latter recently filed an IND for an antibody discovered using the OmniAb technology, which represents the fourth OmniAb antibody entering clinical development. 

Recognizing that smaller biotechs and start-ups may prefer to outsource animal care and antibody generation, Ligand has also partnered with Charles River Laboratories and Taconic and several CROs to ensure the widest possible access to the OmniAb platform, and ultimately to maximize advances in drug development. 

Ligand

3911 Sorrento Valley Blvd., Suite 110, San Diego, CA 92121

Website: www.omniab.com

Email: [email protected]

References
1 Geurts AM, Cost GJ, Freyvert Y, et al 2009. Science 325(5939):433
2 Menoret S, Iscache A-L, Tesson, L, et al 2010. Eur J Immunol 40:2932
3 Osborn MJ, Ma B, Avis S, et al 2013. J Immunol 190:1481
4 Bruggemann M, Osborn, MJ, Ma B, et al. 2015. Arch Immunol Ther Exp 63:101

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