Almac will be attending BIO 2010, the annual Bio Industry Association convention, at which it will announce the extension of its unique site specific PEGylation technology to cover single domain antibody fragments.

In exemplifying the site specific PEGylation technology with single domain antibodies and interferons, Almac has demonstrated that therapeutically important complex biological proteins can be engineered to offer viable candidates for development as therapeutic agents.

Existing PEGylation technologies produce products which are PEGylated at multiple sites in an uncontrolled manner. Inevitably, this results in heterogeneous population of PEGylated molecules and a net decrease in potency compared to the un-PEGylated analogue. The Almac approach allows the specific PEGylation site to be selected and controlled and generates a homogeneous PEGylated product. The outcome, compared to existing PEGylation techniques, is improved efficacy, which leads to lower dose levels and consequently lower cost of goods; whilst still providing improved ADME profile due to the addition of the PEG moiety.

Commenting on the development of Almac’s site specific ligation technology,  Almac Sciences’ President and Managing Director, Stephen Barr, commented: “The application of our unique ligation technology to the PEGylation of single domain antibody fragments, further demonstrates the benefit of Almac’s state of the art peptide and protein engineering techniques for the improvement of drug products.’

Date: April 28, 2010
Source: Almac Group