A Q&A with Simon Keen, VP of Cell Line Development and Scientific Leader at Abzena
We sat down with Simon at the start of 2024 to discuss how our enhancing AbZelectPRO™ improves cell line development productivity. Recent developments to the platform have further improved efficiencies meaning we can rapidly progress your therapeutic protein & recombinant vaccine program from DNA to RCB in 10 weeks. Find out about that and more in our updated blog below.
Could you provide an overview of the AbZelectPRO™ platform?
AbZelectPRO™ is a cell line development (CLD) platform that enables the rapid generation and selection of high-yielding mammalian Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines for therapeutic protein and recombinant vaccine production. AbZelectPRO is optimized across the three key areas of vector, host cell line, and process. It provides improved cell doubling times, viable cell densities, and robust and stable cell lines.
What are the benefits of using the AbZelectPROTM platform?
The AbZelectPROTM platform enables rapid progression to clinical trials, streamlining development and accelerating production timelines, with cell banks generated in only 10 weeks with up to 8g/L in high-performing titres. Offering higher stable clone productivity, more drug product can be produced per manufacturing run, reducing the costs of goods per dose. The platform also de-risks the pathway to the clinic with an in-built risk mitigation strategy.
Who should be using the AbZelectPROTM platform?
The platform is designed to support biopharma companies with an asset destined for the clinic but perhaps don’t have the means to achieve this in-house. By relying on the AbZelectPROTM platform, these companies also gain the benefits of partnering with Abzena, including access to our expertise and experience in efficiently developing drugs for successful Investigational New Drug (IND) application.
For programs where higher titres are critical , including those for more difficult-to-express proteins like bispecifics and fusion proteins, the AbzelectPROTM platform provides the best option to generate stable pools with enhanced expression levels.
What is unique about our AbZelectPROTM platform?
The AbZelectPRO™ platform is based on CHO cells and relies on a glutamine synthetase (GS) selection system to isolate highly productive cells. Coupled with an optimized CLD process, AbZelectPRO™ rapidly generates and selects high-yielding stable CHO cell lines for biotherapeutic production.
AbZelectPROTM utilizes ProteoNic’s 2G UNic® premium vector technology to achieve the highest production levels. Leveraging the 2G UNic® vector, AbZelectPROTM boosts expression levels and generates higher-producing, stable cell lines expressing proteins including bispecifics, fusion proteins and other novel modalities.
How does AbZelectPROTM differ from other CLD providers?
There are three key aspects of CLD, each of which has been optimized in our AbZelectPROTM platform, including:
- Vector: Enhancement of the vector through codon optimization and re-organization of regulatory elements enables improved productivity at the cellular level. The use of GS selection also promotes greater stability.
- Host cell line: Our CHO cell line has undergone directed evolution, being forced through multiple passages in bioreactors. Through each round, viable cell densities increased at faster rates, while maintaining high expression capacity.
- Process: The overall process has undergone significant optimization to improve efficiency and productivity.
How does the platform fit with Abzena’s wider service offerings?
The AbZelectPROTM platform is seamlessly integrated into our wider services. For example, the platform allow multiple candidates to be taken forward from protein engineering to the generation of stable pools for more in-depth characterization. The platform also aligns with the manufacturing service, providing high productivity with every manufacturing run. Used alongside our analytical development expertise, we can adapt our testing methods or develop new assays to safeguard the quality of your therapy from CLD to manufacturing.
Connect with Simon Keen or any of our CLD experts today to learn more about how our platform provides cost efficiencies and opportunity to de-risk your biologics pathway to IND by clicking here.
About the author: Simon Keen, Vice President of Cell Line Development & Scientific Leader at Abzena
Simon has over 28 years of experience of molecular biology and cell line development in the biotechnology industry. His career started working on antibody humanization technologies at the Medical Research Council (MRC) antibody engineering group, before moving to work for multiple small and mid-size biotech companies in the Cambridge UK ecosystem. Simon has developed a deep expertise in different production systems for vaccine, antibody and fusion protein therapies. Having spent the last 15 years at Abzena, Simon has helped to develop mammalian cell line development technologies suitable for the manufacture of biological drugs and is now VP, Cell Line Development. He sits on Abzena’s Scientific Leadership Group, working with clients to shape projects to meet the demands of pre-clinical and clinical development for their drug candidates, to guide them through to regulatory submission.
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