AbCellera has acquired the OrthoMab bispecific platform from Dualogics. OrthoMab is a clinically validated platform that uses advanced computational and experimental protein engineering methods to create IgG-like bispecific antibodies from any two antibody sequences.
By integrating OrthoMab into its existing technology stack, AbCellera provides the industry with a rapid and complete solution for generating tailored, stable and developable bispecific antibodies that meet the needs of the growing $140 billion biologics market.
Under the terms of the asset purchase agreement, AbCellera acquires full rights to the OrthoMab platform and Dualogics retains rights to develop existing internal assets and to complete existing partnership programmes. Dr Tim Jacobs, who led multiple bispecific antibody programmes as CTO of Dualogics, joined AbCellera's team in early August.
Jacobs brings 10 years of protein engineering experience and has pioneered numerous computational and experimental strategies to design, modify, and enhance protein-based therapies.
"Bispecifics have opened new vistas for antibody therapeutics and are the fastest growing format in clinical development. Despite this early success, the technological barriers for successful development of bispecifics, including challenges in discovery, pair selection, protein engineering and manufacturing, are keeping many firms out," said Carl Hansen, CEO of AbCellera. "By welcoming Tim to our team and OrthoMab into our stack, we have consolidated the talent and technologies needed to address these challenges. Through our partnerships, we'll democratize access to leading bispecific technology across the industry, connecting science with technology to bring new therapies to the clinic."
The addition of OrthoMab to AbCellera's antibody discovery technology creates a unified bispecific platform that optimises every step of the process, including:
- Sourcing diverse antibodies from any animal, including fully human monoclonal antibodies from humanised mice
- Searching, decoding, and analysing antibodies to identify the best combinations for achieving the desired functions
- Engineering IgG-like bispecific antibodies that are tailored to maximise therapeutic effect while retaining optimal stability and developability profiles
- Assessing immunogenicity with in silico screening tools.
"AbCellera's deep technical expertise and industry-leading discovery pipeline uniquely positions it to make the most of the OrthoMab platform," said Tim Jacobs, Senior Research Scientist at AbCellera. "I am extremely excited to be joining the AbCellera team and look forward to bringing best-in-class bispecific and protein-engineering capabilities to our partners."
