2016 Archived Content

SC6: Engineering of Bispecific Antibodies

Nicolas Fischer, Ph.D., Head, Research, Novimmune SA

Michaela Silacci, Ph.D., Director, Discovery Research, Covagen AG, part of J&J

Over the last decade, the field of bispecific antibodies (BiAbs) has significantly matured. Today, BiAbs represent a clinically validated class of therapeutic molecules as two products have been approved and many others BiAbs are in clinical trials. Protein engineers have been incredibly active and inventive, providing numerous solutions to the fundamental problem of how to effectively combine two antibody specificities into a single molecule. These efforts resulted in the vast array of formats that is currently available. Different BiAb formats have distinct characteristics, supporting the unique modes of action that are enabled by BiAb. Beyond biology and therapeutic activity, manufacturing and stability of these innovative molecules has been and remains an important factor that can limit progression of BiAb towards the clinic.

By attending this interactive workshop, you will learn about the various approaches used for the engineering of bispecific antibodies and bispecific scaffold-based binding proteins. Different technologies will be compared and examples for applications of bispecific antibodies in drug development will be presented. Opportunities and challenges in the field of bispecific antibodies will be discussed, highlighting pros and cons of different approaches.

Topics covered will include:

  • Possible strategies to bring two specificities into a single molecule
    • Fragment based, Fc containing or IgG-like formats
    • Format valency and architectures
    • Forced chain pairing or post expression assembly strategies
    • Purification based approaches
  • Modes of action enabled by Bispecific antibodies
    • Cell retargeting strategies
    • Tissue or cell specific targeting
    • Non-oncology applications
  • Case studies with clinical data
    • Examples covering different formats and supporting different modes of action
    • Oncology and non-oncology indication
  • Specific development challenges
    • Manufacturing and stability
    • Preclinical package
    • Potential for immunogenicity