Scancell adds first partner for high potent MAb tech

Immuno-oncology firm Scancell has begun offering its AvidiMab technology to partners looking to increase the potency of their monoclonal antibody pipelines.

Scancell has its own pipeline of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) targeting novel cancer treatments, but this deal represents the first collaboration with an external partnerover its AvidiMab technology.

“AvidiMab is proprietary technology to enable the modification of the constant region (FC) of a human antibody to allow direct tumor killing of antibodies directed to tumor associated antigens (TaGs) but may also be applied to any monoclonal antibody to enhance its potency,” Cliff Holloway, CEO of Scancell, told this publication.

Image: iStock/Dr_Microbe

“The technology was developed by Scancell’s scientific founder Prof Lindy Durrant’s academic group at the University of Nottingham, specifically Nottingham University Therapeutic Antibody Centre (NUTAC). Scancell acquired the technology from the University in April 2018 and has since further validated the platform and filed additional patents.”

The name of the partner has not been divulged, but according to Scancell the deal is a non-exclusive research agreement with a leading antibody technology company to assess its pipeline of MAbs targeting TaGs.

While there are other antibody technologies and approaches available to enhance the therapeutic properties of antibodies, Holloway said AvidiMab holds advantages over methods like affinity maturation or FC modifications

“We believe AvidiMab is a unique platform given its ability to confer unique direct cell killing properties to our TaG antibodies, but to also potentially enhance the potency of other monoclonal antibodies. Hence, it may be utilized either standalone or in synergy with these other technologies.”