TeneoBio expands cell banking deal with Selexis

Selexis will develop research cell banks for a further three preclinical candidates in Teneobio’s oncology pipeline of multi-specific biologics.

In June 2017, biotech firm Tenebio selected cell line development and biologics services firm Selexis, part of the JSR Life Sciences group, to develop research cell banks (RCBs) for multi-specific UniAb candidates for multiple myeloma.

Tenebio has now extended the contract to use Selexis’ SUREtechnology Platform for three more of its multi-specific Human Heavy-Chain Antibodies candidates, known as UniAbs.

Image: iStock/Skarie20

“The resounding success of the work performed in the first service agreement led to the development of high performance RCBs that are currently subject of pre-clinical development at TeneoBio,” Yemi Onakunle, vice president of Licensing and Business Development at Selexis, told this publication.

“This has led TeneoBio to entrust a new program to develop three additional high performance RCBs in Selexis hands.”

The work will be undertaken at Selexis facilities in Geneva Switzerland.

UniAbs

Teneobio’s UniAb platform is based on the physiological expression and selection of human transgenic heavy chain only antibodies in UniRat, a transgenic rat platform.

According to Omid Vafa, chief business officer at TeneoBio: “Single domain antibodies derived from UniAbs, also known as UniDabs, can be assembled as modular domains into a) multi-specific therapeutic recombinant proteins, b) as targeting moieties of CARs in T-cells, or c) as multi-specific antibody drug-conjugates.

Vafa told BioProcess Insider: “Selexis’ technology enabled the selection of cell lines with high producing titers which, in turn, provided excellent yields in the manufacturing of TNB-383B (anti-BCMAxCD3). TNB-383B is a multi-specific, triple gene therapeutic product for which Teneobio is filing an IND (Q1, 2019) for the treatment of multiple myeloma.”