The initial collaboration successfully identified antibodies with therapeutic potential, with two candidates from this panel now entering preclinical development.
The collaboration leveraged Antiverse’s AI-driven antibody discovery platform, which uses machine learning techniques and advanced cell line engineering to develop antibodies for difficult drug targets, alongside GlobalBio’s ALTHEA semisynthetic libraries for the discovery of antibody-based therapeutics.
Through rounds of selection using recombinant human PD-1 as a selector, more than 300 clones were tested for their ability to bind human PD-1 and PD-1 orthologs of mouse, dog and cynomolgus.
Among these clones, over a hundred were demonstrated to be positive binders to PD-1, with several dozen showing high specificity for human PD-1 and/or cross-reactivity with mouse, dog and cynomolgus orthologs.
As a result, the best-performing clones were converted to antibody isotypes to minimize toxicity.
Ben Holland, chief technology officer and co-founder of Antiverse, said: “This Agreement is further validation of our AI-driven drug discovery platform, successfully generating a panel of anti-PD-1 antibodies, with at least two potential candidates entering preclinical development. Through these types of innovative collaborations, Antiverse plays a vital role in accelerating the identification and development of novel antibody therapeutics for cancer, reducing drug discovery timelines and costs. We aim to continue to ‘open up’ the druggable antibody space.”
Dr Juan Carlos Almagro, CEO and founder at GlobalBio, added: “Antiverse’s antibody discovery platform complements our libraries and antibody engineering capabilities well. Through this collaboration, we have highlighted an exciting new avenue for us to bring new antibody-based checkpoint inhibitors into the immuno-oncology market for the treatment of cancers in both humans and animals.”