AnaptysBio Develops Novel Antibody Scaffold With Extreme Thermostability

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- AnaptysBio, Inc., a privately-held therapeutic antibody company, today announced the publication of a novel full-length antibody scaffold, applicable to the development of highly thermostable antibodies for therapeutic and diagnostic applications, in the journal of Protein Engineering, Design & Selection (PEDS).  

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Entitled "An integrated approach to extreme thermostabilization and affinity maturation of an antibody", Dr. David J. King, chief scientific officer of AnaptysBio, and his team describe a novel IgG scaffold that maintains high binding affinity to its target antigen despite exposure to high temperature conditions for extended periods.   Accelerated stability data indicates that antibodies generated using this technology would remain stable at room temperature for several years.

To date, this novel approach has been successfully utilized by AnaptysBio to generate highly stable antibodies against multiple antigens.  As demonstrated in the aforementioned publication, existing antibodies with poor stability parameters can be effectively transformed by AnaptysBio's SHM-XEL platform to confer high thermal stability, while simultaneously improving binding affinity.   In addition, AnaptysBio has designed diverse library repertoires that permit de novo discovery of high thermostability antibodies in the context of its proprietary SHM-XEL platform. 

"To our knowledge, this publication describes the most stable full-length antibody reported to date," said Hamza Suria, president & chief executive officer of AnaptysBio. "Our ability to generate antibodies with extended room temperature thermostability provides a significant commercial advantage to future antibody-based therapeutic and diagnostic products.  Enhanced thermostability would reduce, or even eliminate, cold chain dependency during production, shipping and storage of antibody products.  These advantages may be particularly useful in developing countries, where the availability of antibody products is often constrained by dependency on refrigeration systems."

About AnaptysBio

Founded in 2005, AnaptysBio, Inc. is a privately-held company focused on the generation of antibody therapeutics, and the leader in the use of somatic hypermutation (SHM) for antibody discovery and optimization. AnaptysBio's proprietary SHM-XEL platform, which couples fully human antibody libraries with in vitro somatic hypermutation (SHM) in mammalian cells to generate high affinity lead candidates, replicates key features of the human immune system and overcomes limitations of prior antibody technologies.  By harnessing the natural mechanism of antibody maturation under controlled conditions, SHM-XEL allows for the selection of optimal antibody properties such as high affinity, function, cross-reactivity, epitope diversity and manufacturability.   AnaptysBio has established broad intellectual property around the use of SHM and is currently building a pipeline of novel therapeutic antibody product candidates, including differentiated programs in cancer immunotherapy, inflammation, muscle wasting disorders and antibody-drug conjugate applications. The Company has previously announced pharma partnerships with Merck, Roche, Novartis, Celgene and Gilead.  Major investors in AnaptysBio include Alloy Ventures, Avalon Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures and Novo A/S.  For more information, visit www.anaptysbio.com.

SOURCE AnaptysBio, Inc.