Affimed's fully human anti thrombosis antibody shows in vivo efficacy with reduced side effects
Heidelberg, Germany (December 04, 2006) Affimed Therapeutics AG, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of antibody therapeutics, announced today that preclinical proof of concept has been established for its anti-thrombosis product candidate.
Affimed's fully human antibody predominantly binds to the activated form of a receptor (GPIIb/IIIa) that plays a major role in the formation of blood clots. The preclinical studies, conducted at the Dept. Cardiology and Dept. Clinical Pharmacology of Freiburg University, Germany and at the Baker Heart Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia demonstrated that the antithrombotic effect is comparable to the clinically used conformation-unspecific GPIIb/GPIIIa blockers tirofiban and eptifibatide. However, in clear contrast to these blockers, Affimed's antibody did not prolong bleeding times. This antibody thus represents a novel future approach for antiplatelet therapy. The results of these studies were published in Circ Res. 2006; 99:25-33 [1].
»Our antibody for thrombosis offers very significant advantages over existing anti-thrombotic antibodies« commented Prof. Little, CSO of Affimed, »For a start our antibody is fully human, can be manufactured cost-effectively in E.coli and binds predominantly to the activated receptor in marked contrast to other antibody therapies for thrombosis «
The current antibody on the market for thrombosis is Reopro, a chimeric antibody that does not distinguish between the activated and non-activated forms of the GPIIb/IIIa receptor on blood platelets. Reopro is also produced first as a full length antibody in mammalian cells and enzymatically treated to release Fab fragments, which then have to be purified.
[1]Schwarz M, Meade G, Stoll P, Ylanne J, Bassler N, Chen YC, et al. Conformation-specific blockade of the integrin GPIIb/IIIa: A novel antiplatelet strategy that selectively targets activated platelets. Circ Res 2006;99:25-33.
About Affimed Therapeutics AG
Affimed is a private biopharmaceutical company based in Heidelberg, Germany and specializing in the development of recombinant antibodies - the fastest growing segment of the pharmaceutical industry. Affimed was founded in May of 2000 by Professor Melvyn Little as a spin-off of his group »Recombinant Antibodies« at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg. The strength of Affimed's discovery platform lies in three large distinct antibody libraries that are the source of antibody leads which can be produced in a variety of formats from scFv, diabodies, full length antibodies to proprietary tetravalent formats such as Affimed's TandAb or Flexibody. Affimed's existing pipeline comprises several very novel antibody formats targeting some potentially very high value cancer targets. Two cancer products are in advanced pre-clinical development. To learn more about Affimed, please visit www.affimed.com