International Pharmaceutical Industry journal speaks with Dr Campbell Bunce, Chief Science Officer at Abzena, on the company’s expanded AbZelectPRO™ cell line development platforms, its integrated approach to antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) development, and how combining advanced CLD capabilities with conjugation expertise is accelerating next-generation bioconjugate programmes.
In this interview, Dr Bunce discusses how Abzena is differentiating itself in a competitive CDMO landscape, addressing key bottlenecks in the rapidly evolving ADC space, and positioning its end-to-end biologics and bioconjugation services to meet growing global demand over the next five years.
You recently announced the expanded AbZelectPRO™ CLD offering. Could you walk me through how these platforms will transform cell-line development?
Two challenges exist both as a business and in the wider market. The first is that cell line development is a fairly crowded area, with many companies offering similar services and many groups claiming superiority based on productivity or whichever parameter they wish to promote. For us, as a business specialising in complex biologics and next generation bioconjugates, it has been important to develop a solution that is fairly agnostic to the types of molecules that are being expressed. Within the cell line development sector, data is often focused on the expression of standard antibodies. That is important, but for us, specialising in bispecifics, fusion proteins, and multispecifics, it is vital to have a platform that works consistently regardless of the molecule. We want to ensure that we can express new, complex biologics at equal levels. The platform we developed achieves this, which is why we chose ProteoNic’s, 2G UNic® vector to pair with our host AbZelect CHO-K1 cell line to develop the AbZelectPRO™ platform. These technologies combine effectively to produce non-antibody formats, complex antibody formats, and fusion proteins at high levels. Developing this platform was intended to bring new, next generation drugs to the sector and that goal has been realised.
In a crowded CDMO market, what are the key differentiators your new GS knockout CLD platforms bring to your biopharma customers?
We offer the AbZelectPRO™ and the AbZelectPRO™- KO+. The AbZelectPRO- KO combines Revvity’s CHOSOURCE cell line, which is a GS knockout line, while the AbZelectPRO™ does not have GS knockout. This provides customers with options. They can use a platform with a strong pedigree, the Revvity line which has supported nearly 100 INDs and four or more market products, or a newer platform, like AbZelectPRO™ which is earlier in its clinical pedigree with one IND already and others close behind. These platforms compete with the best technologies on the market. Transpose is one well-advertised option. In our experience, however, the ProteoNics Vector combination with the AbZelect cell line and AbZelectPRO-KO outperforms Transpose technology.
Given Abzena’s strengthened CLD capabilities, how are you aligning these with your ADC services to provide seamless collaboration? What are the benefits of combining CLD and conjugation expertise?
A strong cell line development platform allows rapid production of large quantities of antibody. We leverage this at the fast, stable pool stage to remove critical path bottlenecks in ADC development. From stable pools to stable clones and stability studies, having material available early allows us to carry out analytical method development, formulation development, and process development for bioconjugation in parallel, reducing overall development timelines. Combining cell line development with conjugation expertise offers several advantages. All work is performed under one organisation, enabling tight integration across the development plan. First, we provide protein engineering to optimise antibodies, Fabs, or other proteins for conjugation. We can introduce specific conjugation sites and optimise the protein to align with the chosen bioconjugation modality. Second, we have extensive experience in conjugation itself, covering all conjugation approaches from stochastic to site-directed conjugation. Integrating these capabilities allows optimisation of ADC design before later development stages. The ability to rapidly produce non-GMP material with the CLD platform further streamlines the development process.
The ADC space continues to evolve rapidly. From Abzena’s point of view, what are the top 2-3 bottlenecks you are seeing in the ADC space today and how are you addressing them?
ADC development faces two main bottlenecks. The first is demand. Interest in our services has increased significantly, and keeping up with that demand remains a challenge. The second is geopolitical. Onshoring of manufacturing to the United States has changed the landscape. We are well positioned because our ADC manufacturing facilities are based in the United States, where there are limited local manufacturers with the expertise and capability to scale and manufacture ADCs. Meeting demand remains our primary challenge, but we are well prepared for it.
How do you see the market for CLD and ADC services evolving over the next 3-5 years?
The market for cell line development and ADC services is expected to grow strongly over the coming years. Manufacturing capability and expertise are the key bottlenecks. Next-generation bioconjugates, including antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates (AOCs), are expected to be key drivers of this growth. Artificial intelligence is a key enabler, supporting discovery of new targets for ADCs and AOCs. AI platforms allow deep mining of the genome, profiling of antibody populations, and identification of novel targets in areas of high unmet medical need. There is significant opportunity for ongoing innovation and growth in ADCs, AOCs, and related bioinformatics-driven platforms, creating a long-term positive outlook for the sector.
