Under the deal, Evotec paid out € 2m to access 4-Antibody’s in vitro selection tech, the Retrocyte Display, which can express full-length immunoglobulin antibody libraries in mammalian B-lineage cells for the identification of antigen-specific fully human monoclonal antibodies.
The firms plan to couple the platform, which screens large quantities of antibodies, with Evotec’s screening system – also high-throughput.
A spokesperson for the two companies said the cell-lines means desired functionality at a much earlier stage of selection.
“B-lineage cells are designed by nature for optimal antibody display, and are capable of generating ‘better-behaved’, fully human antibodies,” said the spokesperson.
The platform is also said to provide earlier distinction and selection between antagonist and agonist antibodies.
Pioneers
Robert Burns, 4-Antibody’s CEO said the approach is a leap forward in the field of early detection, and will drastically reduce attrition rates at later development stages.
“Everyone in the drug discovery space understands the desirability of introducing functional testing as early as possible in the selection of drug candidates but I don’t see other service providers who can offer this fully integrated high throughput capability in the antibody drug space,” he said.
“We can now offer a fully integrated discovery to development model in the antibody drug space for pharma players who are looking for complete out-sourcing.”
Werner Lanthaler, Evotec CEO, added: “This ‘EVOmAb’ turn-key solution will deliver to our customers a much higher chance to bring an antibody to the market than traditional affinity-selected antibody approaches”