Panacea Pharmaceuticals has selected Goodwin Biotechnology to develop a proof-of-concept conjugation for a fully-human monoclonal antibody to an anti-cancer monoclonal antibody. The conjugate is labeled with indium‐111 (111In) and other potential radioisotopes for in vivo diagnostic imaging and treatment of cancers.
 
“Panacea has developed a fully human antibody directed against the tumor‐specific marker, human aspartyl (asparaginyl) β‐hydroxylase (HAAH),” said Dr. Steven A. Fuller, Ph.D., chief operating officer at Panacea Pharmaceuticals. “Based on the experience that Goodwin Biotechnology has in the area of Bioconjugation, they were selected to optimize, scale-up, and manufacture this antibody‐chelator conjugate, of one of our lead cancer products.”
 
“Our initial efforts were focused on the classical random conjugation of the ‘naked’ antibody that Panacea Pharmaceuticals supplied and comparing DOTA and CHX‐Achelators as the linkers,” said Muctarr Sesay, Ph.D., chief scientific officer and vice president, Bioconjugation Development at Goodwin Biotechnology. “However, the results were less than desirable, based on the ability of the conjugates to bind to the antigen and incorporation of Indium111. After a thorough analysis, we recommended a new strategy using our proprietary, site-directed conjugation process that shifted the linker away from the antigen binding site (hypervariable region) on the antibody. Results from the site‐directed conjugation process, when compared to the random conjugation process, it was clear that the site‐directed approach was significantly superior to the random conjugation.”