Invenra, Astellas Launch Partnership Focused on Discovering Therapeutic Bispecific Antibodies

Image Credit: Adobe Stock Images/Design Cells

Invenra Inc. and Astellas Pharma announced that they have agreed to terms on a collaboration that seeks to utilize Invenra's B-Body bispecific antibody platform to bolster Astellas' research and development efforts in bispecific therapeutic research. Per the agreement, Astellas will acquire full access to the B-Body platform, with the opportunity for further license negations upon the completion of this initiative. Both teams stated that they remain dedicated to pushing the boundaries of healthcare through innovative research, with the ultimate goal of providing new, effective treatments to patients worldwide.¹

“We are honored to partner with the Astellas team, one of the world’s foremost developers of therapeutics,” said Roland Green, PhD, CEO, Invenra, in a press release. “We are excited by the potential of this partnership to yield profound benefits to patients in need.”

According to Invenra, the B-Body Platform focuses on bispecific antibody yield, efficient conventional purification, high solubility, subcutaneous-compatible viscosity, and stability in both discovery and scale-up.²

“The B-Body Platform overcomes the challenges in discovery and manufacturing of bispecific antibodies with some of the highest antibody yields in both transient and stable cell line expression,” reports Invenra. “Evaluation of a range of production methods from engineered CHO pools in shake flasks to fed-batch production has yielded 6-11 grams per liter, substantially higher than any other known bispecific platform. Yields of up to 1.8g/L/day or higher are possible in perfusion cell culture.”

Invenra stated that the therapeutic-ready B-Body Platform also solves for validated production, proper assembly, 95% single-pass purity for discovery, 100% purity after CEX purification, and compatibility with conventional CMC.²

Last week, Invenra also announced that it had agreed to terms on a collaboration with Catalent to implement the B-Body platform to discover novel bispecific antibody-drug conjugates (ADC). According to a press release, this collaboration will combine technologies of both companies to advance the development of ADCs.³

“We are excited to collaborate with the innovative team at Catalent’s Redwood Bioscience subsidiary. We believe that the combination of Invenra’s B-Body bispecific antibody platform with Catalent's SMARTag ADC expertise has the potential to unlock synergies and accelerate the development of next-generation cancer therapeutics,” said Green.

In 2022, Invenra presented data on INV322, an antibody-based cancer therapeutic that was developed through the B-Body platform.⁴

“We are very pleased with the strong preclinical data that our research team has generated with INV322 using our proprietary multispecific B-Body Platform,” said Daniel Pereira, PhD, chief scientific officer, Invenra. “INV322 also appears well tolerated in ongoing toxicology studies and thus we are also encouraged by its therapeutic potential as we progress our IND-enabling activities,” said Pereira. “These efforts are also providing validation for both the SNIPER Bispecific antibody therapeutics approach, and our robust multispecific B-Body Platform.”

References

1. Invenra Inc. Announces a Strategic Research Agreement with Astellas Pharma in Therapeutic Bispecific Antibody Discovery. Business Wire. April 9, 2024. Accessed April 10, 2024. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240409912544/en/Invenra-Inc.-Announces-a-Strategic-Research-Agreement-with-Astellas-Pharma-in-Therapeutic-Bispecific-Antibody-Discovery

2. B-Body: The Premier Bispecific Antibody Platform. Invenra. Accessed April 10, 2024. https://invenra.com/our-science/

3. Invenra Inc. Announces a Strategic Collaboration with Catalent to Co-Discover Novel Bispecific ADCs. Business Wire. April 2, 2024. Accessed April 10, 2024. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240402320363/en/Invenra-Inc.-Announces-a-Strategic-Collaboration-with-Catalent-to-Co-Discover-Novel-Bispecific-ADCs

4. Invenra to Present Preclinical Data on INV322, A Next Generation Tumor Treg Depleter. Business Wire. September 20, 2022. Accessed April 10, 2024. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220920005953/en/Invenra-to-Present-Preclinical-Data-on-INV322-A-Next-Generation-Tumor-Treg-Depleter