DuoBody™ Platform for Bispecific Antibody Development
Bispecific antibodies are the next step towards the development of curative treatments in the already successful field of antibody therapeutics. Bispecific antibodies will increase the potency and efficacy of antibody therapies by enhancing specificity and broadening activity by targeting a combination of disease-related molecules. At the same time bispecific antibodies engage the patients’ own immune system to combat disease.

In 2010 Genmab announced the DuoBody platform, which offers a natural, safe and easy way to create bispecific antibodies with possible applications in oncology, autoimmune and infections diseases, among others. Development of bispecific antibodies via the DuoBody platform is a versatile process, and can be applied to any available antibody sequence. It is also based on a natural process so that with the DuoBody platform regular human antibodies are generated, but with enhanced capabilities. Like conventional antibodies DuoBody bispecific antibodies are produced without extensive protein engineering, they bind to the target molecule(s) of choice, and they have optimal pharmacokinetics. Because bispecific antibodies generated via the DuoBody platform are similar to patients’ own proteins, they are expected to be non-immunogenic. They are also ready for therapeutic application; no recloning into a therapeutic format is required.

Genmab is creating knowledge and intellectual property around Fab-arm exchange and the generation of bispecific antibodies^1-3, thereby establishing a strong basis for the DuoBody platform.

UniBody Technology
UniBody is a proprietary antibody technology that creates a stable, smaller antibody format with an anticipated longer therapeutic window than current small antibody formats, based on pre-clinical studies to date. A UniBody molecule is about half the size of a regular type of inert antibody called IgG4 and binds with only one antibody arm to a therapeutic target. UniBody molecules are expected to be cleared from the body at a lower rate than other antibody fragments based on the preclinical studies to date. Unlike other antibodies which primarily work by killing targeted cells, a UniBody molecule will only inhibit or silence cells, which could be an advantage in the treatment of diseases such as asthma or allergies.

 

¹Science 317:1554 (2007) ²Nat Biotechnol 27: 767 (2009) ³WO2008119353