Date: 2017-06-12
Type of
information: Publication of results in a medical journal
phase: preclinical
Announcement: publication of results in Nature Medicine
Company: BioNTech (Germany)
Product: RiboMABs®(mRNA-encoded antibody drugs)
Action
mechanism: mRNA-encoded antibody drug
Disease:
Therapeutic
area:
Country:
Trial
details:
Latest
news:
- • On June 12 , 2017, BioNTech reported preclinical data featuring a novel class of mRNA-encoded antibody drugs called RiboMABs®. In Nature Medicine, BioNTech presents the application of this technology for mRNA-based in vivo delivery of T cell engaging bispecific antibodies. The study is entitled “Elimination of large tumors in mice by mRNA-encoded bispecific antibodies” .
- Bispecific antibodies act by connecting human immune cells to tumor cells for highly efficient killing and have demonstrated great promise as immunotherapy agents. However, the challenges that go along with demanding procedures of production, purification and formulation of a recombinant protein hinder the development of new drugs in this class.Administering the mRNA encoding the bispecific antibody, thus enabling the patient’s body to synthesize the therapeutic protein, may profoundly reduce complexity of drug development. BioNTech researchers achieved this aim by incorporating modified nucleosides into the pharmacologically optimized mRNA and using liver targeting nanoparticles to ensure prolonged production in vivo. Intravenously injecting a few micrograms of mRNA resulted in bispecific RiboMAB production in the liver cells that rapidly secreted into the circulation, reaching peak level within hours and remaining at therapeutically effective plasma concentrations for a week.
- To demonstrate universality of this novel approach, bispecific RiboMABs targeting different tumor antigens were generated, and their therapeutic potency was tested in mice bearing human tumors and repopulated with human immune cells. Weekly application of any of the bispecific RiboMAB, directed against cancer antigens that are present in many human cancers, resulted in elimination of aggressively growing, large tumors.
Is
general: Yes
