Immunomedics, IBC Pharmaceuticals report on new platform technology

By Elaine Rigoli

Tampa, Fla., April 25 - Immunomedics, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, IBC Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced the development of a novel platform technology that may enable the creation of virtually any multifunctional protein for diverse applications.

For example, one potential application is to connect multiple antibody fragments with toxic drugs or radioisotopes for disease therapy or imaging, the company explained in a news release.

Another possibility is to increase the circulation time of hormones, hematopoietic growth factors or cytokines in the body by linking them to polymers or albumin, the release said.

The method could also provide a novel means for selective targeting in gene therapy.

Termed the Dock and Lock (DNL) method, the technology is based on the exploitation of two alpha-helical peptides that are found in nature to bind specifically with each other.

By recombinantly fusing or chemically attaching each peptide to a constituent of interest, these helices provide an excellent linker module for "docking" the two modified components into a quasi-stable structure, which is further locked into a stable complex, the release said.

"A unique feature of the DNL method is that in its simplest format one of the two components is always provided with two copies, which can be very important for increased therapeutic efficacy. Suitable components for this technology include antibody fragments, peptide haptens, polyethylene glycols, human serum albumin, cytokines, DNA vaccines, small interfering RNAs, enzymes, fluorescent proteins and a variety of scaffold-based binding proteins," said Chien-Hsing Chang, executive vice president of research at IBC Pharmaceuticals, in a statement.

The company said it believes the DNL method is superior to existing technologies that involve the conjugation of two or more biological entities because:

• the technology provides a convenient and facile way of constructing different proteins and non-proteins from modular subunits on demand;

• the new method has shown good productivity of pure products with defined composition;

• the resulting conjugates show high stability in vivo;

• the multifunctional complexes produced can potentially have higher activity than each of their individual components;

• the technology generates potentially non-immunogenic molecules use as therapeutics.

IBC and Immunomedics, both located in Morris Plains, N.J., are biopharmaceutical companies focused on the development and commercialization of proprietary pretargeting agents and antibody-based products for the detection and treatment of various cancers and other serious diseases.

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