AnaptysBio Receives Allowance Of US Patent Covering Proprietary ABELmAb™ Libraries

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- AnaptysBio, Inc., a leader in the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies, announced today that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 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 17^th issuance in AnaptysBio's intellectual property portfolio. 

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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.  A detailed overview of the ABELmAb library strategy was recently published by AnaptysBio in the journal Methods^[1].

"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. 

About AnaptysBio

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. We are developing a pipeline of novel therapeutic antibody candidates, including differentiated programs in cancer immunotherapy, inflammation, fibrosis, muscle wasting disorders and antibody-drug conjugate applications.  AnaptysBio's proprietary SHM-XEL™ platform, which couples fully human antibody libraries with in vitro somatic hypermutation in mammalian cells to generate high affinity antibodies, replicates key features of the human immune system and overcomes limitations of prior antibody technologies.  By harnessing the natural mechanism of antibody maturation under controlled conditions, SHM-XEL allows for the selection of optimal antibody properties such as high affinity, stability, function, cross-reactivity, epitope diversity and manufacturability. The Company has previously announced partnerships with Merck, Roche, Novartis, Celgene, Gilead, DARPA and DTRA.  Major investors in AnaptysBio include Alloy Ventures, Avalon Ventures, Frazier Healthcare Ventures and Novo A/S.  For more information, visit www.anaptysbio.com.

^[1] Bowers et al. Methods (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ymeth.2013.06.010

SOURCE AnaptysBio, Inc.