Specifica Delivers Antibody Platform to UCB to Speed up Development of New Therapeutics

SANTA FE, N.M., Dec. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Specifica, a company revolutionizing antibody discovery, today announced that it has delivered an exclusive antibody library platform to UCB, a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines for people suffering from severe diseases of the immune system and the central nervous system.

"Specifica's Generation 3 Library Platform has quality built-in by design. Antibodies from our Generation 3 Platform have few liabilities, and over 80% behave as well as, or better, than the best therapeutic antibodies," said Kenneth Sharples, CEO and co-founder of Specifica. "We're pleased to arm UCB with a high-quality discovery platform and the training and support to ensure its value to drug discovery for years to come."

Daniel Lightwood, UCB's Head of Antibody Discovery, said, "The Specifica Generation 3 Library provides a new tool, to use alongside our existing platforms and technologies, which enhances our therapeutic antibody discovery capabilities. We expect that the platform will provide a more reliable and rapid source of therapeutic antibody molecules than previous in vitro display technologies and complements our existing powerful immunization-based single B cell screening platform."

Dr. Lightwood continued, "Our decision to acquire this library comes after extensive testing and evaluation of its potential to provide molecules with desired properties and forms part of UCB's ongoing commitment to remain at the forefront of antibody drug discovery."

Specifica offers antibody library platforms in both Fab and scFv formats, each of which have their advantages in antibody discovery. The Fab format recapitulates more closely the full-length IgG molecule, containing both variable regions and constant regions, while the scFv is a single-gene construct comprising only the variable regions, which tend to be easier to use.

Specifica specializes in the creation of exceptional antibody libraries, using next-generation sequencing for quality control at all steps of construction and validation. The company ensures high diversity standards by counting the number of different antibodies in each Specifica library. Libraries with high guaranteed diversities mean more antibodies, recognizing more epitopes, with better affinities against targets.

Each Generation 3 Library Platform Specifica provides to its partners is exclusive to that partner, created from unique donor sets not used for any other library, guaranteeing each supplied Generation 3 Library Platform is one of a kind.

In addition to providing unique libraries for platform transfers, Specifica also uses its in-house library to carry out discovery services for partners.

To learn more about Specifica, visit the company's website at www.specifica.bio.

About Specifica
Specifica's mission is to empower companies that create cures with visionary antibody technologies. Specifica's Generation 3 Antibody Library Platform is available on an exclusive basis, in multiple formats, under straightforward business terms. Drug-like antibodies, with broad diversity, high affinities and few biophysical liabilities, can be selected directly from the platform without the need for downstream improvement. In addition to in-house antibody library designs, Specifica also collaborates closely with partners to create custom libraries in which essential elements are optimized according to partner needs. Specifica also uses its Generation 3 Platform to carry out antibody discovery. Specifica is headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico. For more information, please visit www.specifica.bio and follow Specifica on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About UCB
UCB, Brussels, Belgium (www.ucb.com) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines and solutions to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases of the immune system or of the central nervous system. With 7,500 people in approximately 40 countries, the company generated revenue of € 4.9 billion in 2019. UCB is listed on Euronext Brussels (symbol: UCB).

SOURCE Specifica