AnaptysBio, Inc., a leader in the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies, has received a Notice of Allowance from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a patent application covering its proprietary ABELmAb libraries.  Once issued, the allowed claims will broadly protect the antibody library methodologies employed by AnaptysBio’s in vitro somatic hypermutation platform, called SHM-XEL, for the discovery and optimization of therapeutic antibodies.   The new US patent will constitute the 17th issuance in AnaptysBio’s intellectual property portfolio.

AnaptysBio’s ABELmAb libraries are uniquely designed to permit rapid discovery and optimization of antibodies using in vitro somatic hypermutation in the context of mammalian cell display.  With an initial library population of at least 3 x 1012 individual antibody sequences, ABELmAb continues to diversify in situ within mammalian cells during AnaptysBio’s antibody generation process.  The company has successfully generated novel antibodies by applying multi-parameter selection pressure upon the evolving ABELmAb library, including concurrent determination of functional activity enabled through simultaneous antibody secretion by AnaptysBio’s proprietary Deciduous expression system.  Selection of antibodies using mammalian cells provides a distinct advantage for SHM-XEL versus microbial phage and yeast antibody library approaches, particularly with respect to manufacturability and related biophysical properties.  

“Our innovative ABELmAb approach has been widely recognized in the industry as a differentiated approach to antibody discovery with key benefits over microbial antibody display technologies,” said Hamza Suria, president & chief executive officer of AnaptysBio. “The success of our SHM-XEL technology platform provides a strategic advantage in executing AnaptysBio’s mission to rapidly develop therapeutic antibodies against emerging therapeutic targets.”

ABELmAb libraries have been successfully applied to more than 30 antibody generation projects to date across a broad range of therapeutic opportunities.  Differentiating advantages of the SHM-XEL platform have attracted multiple pharma, biotech and government agency partnerships to AnaptysBio, including Roche, Merck, Novartis, Celgene, Gilead, DARPA and DTRA.

AnaptysBio is a privately-held company focused on the generation of antibody therapeutics and is the leader in the use of somatic hypermutation (SHM) for antibody discovery and optimization.