Abzena has augmented its antibody drug conjugation (ADC) and biologics (including mono and bispecific antibodies) development services with the launch of ADC Cascade and Biologics Cascade. These ex-vivo platform approaches allow efficacy and safety studies against clinically characterized on and off-target tissues.
 
Clinical failure of ADCs and biologics remain high, and candidate lead selection is associated with significant risk for translation into clinical development. Pre-clinical testing evaluates target expression and toxicity in animal models but does not optimally link human tissue with clinical history and potential binding to healthy tissue, which may predict safety issues.
 
There is an opportunity to improve this approach. The patient population expressing the target of interest can be defined, and safety liabilities assessed, prior to candidate nomination, according to Abzena.
 
ADC and Biologics Cascade is a new approach to ADC and biologics development, with a clinically oriented focus on the early design and developability of lead candidates. Abzena already offers developability and conjugation chemistry services and has now established a collaboration with a global provider of high-quality biological specimens to allow access to their 175,000 clinically characterized human tissue samples. Abzena’s Cascades are designed to:
 
• Augment target validation with biobank derived patient tissues to identify relevant patient subgroups;
• Enhance lead selection through rational design and cascade approach to evaluate linker and payload (or other conjugated moiety such as RNA) combinations. These can be bound to clinically characterized on and off-target tissues; and
• Candidate selection can include augmented ex-vivo safety and efficacy profiles.
 
“Patients and prescribers want assurance that new medicines are being developed that will improve their health and work safely,” said Jonathan Goldman, chief executive officer, Abzena. “ADC and Biologics Cascade is a new approach in translational medicine. We are delighted to offer our clients a new approach that integrates a large biobank of very well characterized tissues with our conjugation chemistry (ADC) and developability (biologics) services”