Avid Bioservices Inc (CDMO)

[edcpf]

That's good news, along with the registration of the BETABODY trademark on October 14, 2014 with the USPTO. My take is the company will be using this name to market bavituximab (version 1, that is) in the first indication to be approved. I'm sure they have good reasons to save $400,000 on European patents.

I think that that the US patent alone doesn't necessarily have to be PRd, but if they have additional developments an update would be great along with the patent info. Maybe the government can be convinced (if there are any second thoughts about trying bavituximab again for the government program) that the betabodies will work better than bavituximab against Ebola. (Of course, most likely not as a monotherapy, but in some combination -- maybe somebody more knowledgeable on the subject can chip in on what these combinations could be.)

Recall from Xianming poster at:

http://www.peregrineinc.com/images/stories/pdfs/xianming_2013.pdf

From the abstract:

"Such ‘betabodies’ potentially have advantages over bavituximab. They bind directly to PS, whereas bavituximab requires a cofactor protein (ß2GP1) for binding; they can be made fully human; they are smaller in size (100 KDa versus 250 KDa for bavituximab: ß2GP1 complexes); and they have slower blood clearance rates. Many different constructions of betabodies were tested, each having different orientations, domains, and glycosylation patterns. Constructs were identified that bound strongly to PS-expressing cells and plates, localized to tumor vascular endothelium in vivo, and had ß-phase blood half-lives of approximately five days after intravenous injection into mice as compared with one day for a murine version of bavituximab, 2aG4. Betabodies could potentially be the next generation of PS-targeting cancer therapeutics. "

From the summary:

"1.?Recombinant betabody (KL15) fusion protein was successfully expressed and purified.
2.?KL15 binds directly to PS on plates and to PS-positive cells in vitro with similar activity to that of bavituximab or 2aG4.
3.?KL15 localizes to PS-positive tumor vascular endothelium and inflammatory cells after injection into PC3 tumor-bearing mice.
4.?KL15 has 5-fold longer serum half-life than does 2aG4.
5.?A human version of KL15 could potentially be the next generation of PS targeting agents with improved pharmacokinetics. It should also be possible to improve effector function through mutations in the Fc region to enhance antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity."


And recall this PR info from AACR2013:

04/10/2013: "Researchers also presented details of new PS-binding constructs(4). Termed "betabodies," the molecules consist of the PS-binding domain of the serum protein ß2-glycoprotein I (ß2GPI), fused to the constant region of an antibody. Betabodies bind to PS directly, are smaller in size and have a longer serum half-life than natural antibodies. Early studies indicate that betabodies hold potential as next-generation PS-binding agents that have the potential to be used for a broad number of applications including antibody-drug conjugates and next generation therapeutics for oncology and infectious diseases."