New bioconjugation method will save on manufacturing time, says biotech

Biotechnology company, ADC Biotechnology, has announced that it is developing a new ‘downstream bioconjugation’ method that will enable conjugation and antibody purification to be performed concurrently.

“The major benefit, and the reason this approach will prove so disruptive, is that it will save several months of manufacturing time and up to 25% of the overall costs. But it will require much of the industry, with its current ingrained manufacturing methods, to reevaluate exactly how it structures the supply chain that often uses three CMOs,” explained Charlie Johnson, CEO of ADC Bio.

This new approach may potentially lead to less time at the antibody manufacturer as both the remaining downstream processing and conjugation services are moved to the bioconjugation CMO facility. Additionally, the starting point for the approach would be with antibody supernatants rather than post-creation of purified antibodies. Therefore, this forgoes the need for extensive chromatographic purification techniques to deliver purified antibody.

Furthermore, the technique would remove the need for Protein A resins, replacing them with capture resins that are integral to the company’s core ‘Lock-Release’ technology.

“In essence, we are telescoping antibody DSP and conjugation, providing just one set of analytical development and release processes, whilst bringing in the use of much more cost effective and safer resins,” added Johnson. “We have already successfully piloted our new development process in a number of applications. As the next step, we have just launched our Specialist Process Innovation Group — which will be responsible for fostering all further technological innovations moving forwards — with its first project being to validate our new downstream conjugation approach over the course of the next 18 months.”