Antibody manufacturing development agreement signed with UCL
Abzena plc, a life sciences group providing services and technologies to enable the development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products, has signed a manufacturing agreement with University College London (UCL), one of the world’s leading universities
Under the agreement, Abzena will manufacture Magacizumab, an antibody created using the ‘Abzena inside’ Composite Human Antibody technology.
Under earlier agreements with UCL, Abzena conducted the antibody humanisation and developed the manufacturing cell line for Magacizumab.
In this latest service agreement Abzena will manufacture Magacizumab at its biomanufacturing facility in San Diego, CA, USA.
This programme is the first to proceed with Abzena through each of the phases of humanisation, cell line development and into manufacture, thus illustrating Abzena’s expanded capabilities in the discovery, development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products for its partners across its UK and US operations.
Magacizumab is an ‘Abzena inside’ product that is being developed by the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology for the treatment of neovascular (or ’wet’) age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
This is a condition affecting older people that can lead to loss of vision due to abnormal blood vessel growth.
The antibody targets LRG1 (leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein 1) which researchers at UCL identified as having a role in promoting the growth of pathological blood vessels.
The project is funded by the Medical Research Council’s Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme.
