Catalent granted licence to antibody combination platform

Catalent has signed an exclusive licencing agreement to access Excelimmune's antibody combination therapy (ACT) technology platform, which has the potential to pave the way for more consistent, cost-effective production of antibody combinations and allow complex antibody therapeutics to gain greater clinic accessibility.

Under the licensing agreement, Catalent will continue development work on the platform, both internally and in conjunction with partner-sponsored programmes. Catalent will also be able to leverage its own proprietary GPEx technology to help enable that development.

Excelimmune's antibody combination expression system is based on a key innovation; the use of stable pools of cells generated by multiple directed gene insertions instead of clonal cell lines. This attribute contributes to a quick, stable and flexible culture system for mixtures of cells producing different antibodies.

“Combination antibody therapies are becoming the treatment standard for many indications within oncology, immuno-oncology and infectious diseases,” commented Mike Riley, vice president and general manager, Catalent Biologics. “This technology platform has the potential to allow production of multiple antibodies in a significantly more cost-effective manner. This can allow innovators to look to combinations earlier in clinical development and could be the difference in a new treatment getting to patients.”