Biologics contract service provider Abzena has launched a developability assessment and optimization service to assist customers in selecting and developing the best lead candidate to take forward for manufacture at its site in Cambridge, UK.
 
According to the company, the new Developability Service reduces the time, risk and cost required to take multiple lead candidates through cell line development and manufacturing. Biologics have potential liabilities for safety, functionality, stability and scalability and when these issues are identified early alternate leads can be selected, liabilities engineered out or measures can be taken to mitigate risk. The Developability Service also enables the selection of drug candidates most aligned with the target product profile by evaluating a range of functionality and specificity readouts.
 
The service is adapted to the stage of development and the properties of the molecule and provided on a dedicated FTE basis, ensuring flexibility and depth of exposure to the lead candidates. Customers can then seamlessly transition the program into cell line development using Abzena’s proprietary cell line.
 
“Abzena is excited to combine solutions where we have deep expertise and resource into a single low-cost Developability Service,” said Campbell Bunce, senior vice president, scientific operations and Cambridge UK site head, Abzena. “Our customers rely on our ability to significantly shorten timelines, de-risk lead optimization and improve clinical outcomes. Our Developability Service is provided on an FTE basis and typically requires only a few months per project to evaluate several drug candidates. We are delighted to add this service to our existing integrated discovery, cell line development, process development and biologics GMP manufacturing capabilities.”
 
Jonathan Goldman, chief executive officer, Abzena, said, “Abzena is the only PRO dedicated to target to GMP for large molecules, ADCs and complex small molecules. We are delighted to announce this expansion of our integrated capabilities. Our goal is to assist customers in translating complex scientific concepts to safe and effective clinical products and rapidly bring these to patients in need.”