Ximbio has entered into a supply and licence agreement with Oxford-based recombinant antibody manufacturer Absolute Antibody (AbAb).
AbAb apply their proprietary vectors via transient transfection of a high-yielding mammalian cell line together with a universal purification platform to generate recombinant antibodies (rAbs). In the first instance AbAb will be generating recombinant versions of 13 of Ximbio’s monoclonal antibodies and paying royalties on sales made into the research tool market. AbAb will also distribute certain rAbs through Ximbio’s own sales channels.
Recombinant antibodies can be manufactured using synthetic genes expressed in an in vitro mammalian cell line using a defined animal-free system unlike traditional hybridoma based technologies. The main advantage of this method is that rather than creating entirely new antibodies, existing antibodies obtained from hybridomas are sequenced and manufacturing in a superior way, thus improving their usefulness by engineering.
Hugh Spotswood, Ximbio's Senior Business Development Manager who worked on the agreement:
“We're excited by the prospect of working with Absolute Antibody as it provides Ximbio an opportunity to address a recent call from the research community for the better standardisation of research tools. It will also allow Ximbio to leverage antibodies that have good historical sales but are generated from “poor producing” clones. This agreement will hopefully pave the way for the introduction of a portfolio of complementary versions of Ximbio’s antibodies and enable us to play a part in the end-user adoption of these “next generation” research tools".