One size fits all: A bispecific antigen toolkit for antibody discovery and screening

The scientific team at Fusion Antibodies have developed an elegant approach to address some of the difficulties in antibody discovery and screening. This novel design, recently presented by CSO, Dr Richard Buick, at PEGS Boston, is going to play an integral role in streamlining Fusion Antibodies drug development pathway of the future and has been the subject of a recent patent application.

Several different formats of immunogen/ antigen are typically required in the discovery pathway, each requiring careful consideration, design, and optimization. This has significant implications for economies and timelines, of imperative importance in the therapeutic antibody development environment. Issues arising from antigen production for use in discovery and screening can be make or break, and ultimately risk a fatal scenario for an antibody development program.

Fusion Antibodies have harnessed a sophisticated protein engineering approach to standardize antigen expression based on our robust engineering platforms  underpinning bispecific antibody design. The team at Fusion has developed a Knobs-into-Holes engineering technology for difficult to express antigens, whilst linking a reporter arm to streamline downstream steps in the discovery process. The modular design allows for the generation of a toolkit of molecular formats with specific reporter modules, enabling a highly tailored approach to the discovery process.

Simon Douglas, Chairman of Fusion, commented: “Our dedicated team of scientists continues to work on next generation antibody discovery, and we see significant opportunities in this field. We look forward to contributing to the growing body of research concerning the scope of antibody production and design, while also growing our patent portfolio.”