Aug 27 2015
Allele Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals Inc., a San Diego based life sciences company with a focus on novel technology development, releases the first group of a brand new class of antibodies against crucial biological targets to the research market.
This week, Allele launches nano-antibodies isolated from llamas against human bFGF, P16, VEGF, and TNFa, which are all important targets in the field of cancer biology.
Nano-Antibodies (also known as nAb™, Nanobodies®, Single Domain Antibodies, Camelid Antibodies and VHH antibodies) represent the future in antibody technology of Allele’s interest. “Camelid antibodies have been an area of intense research activities at Allele because they have desirable features that no other antibody has. These tiny antibodies outperform conventional antibodies in many ways and thrive in extreme conditions, eventually they will occupy a significant portion of the antibody reagent market,” said Dr. Jiwu Wang, CEO and founder of Allele Biotechnology. This first wave of novel reagents has been meticulously tested for immunohistochemistry (IHC) in human cancer tissues; some of these antibodies also performed well in cross-species reactivity in mouse and rat while others are highly suitable for advanced applications such as flow cytometry and antigen immunoprecipitation.
This is the first release in a long-term effort to generate and commercialize hundreds of nano-antibody derived capture tools. “Our nano-antibody project is based on years of internal technology development partially funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse of the NIH,” according to Allele’s Marketing Director, Abbas Hussain. “The nAb product line will shortly encompass a wide range of high value targets that are applicable to both basic and clinically relevant research. It will also feature cutting edge conjugation technologies that enable fluorescent imaging and electron microscopy techniques being developed at Allele.”
Since the ability to generate monoclonal antibodies was discovered in 1975, antibodies have been used in virtually every branch of biomedical research and development. In the past decade there has been a shift toward harnessing antibody technology for therapy, as illustrated by large number of antibody-based drugs on the market today. Allele’s nAb development has been one of the targets of investment from Yifang Ventures and Yuan Capital.