Seattle Genetics Introduces Sugar-Engineered Antibody Technology

The biopharmaceutical company Seattle Genetics (Bothell, WA) introduced a sugar-engineered antibody (SEA) technology that is designed to increase the potency of monoclonal antibodies through enhanced effector function. The company presented the technology at the American Antibody Congress, which was held last week in Washington, DC.

The SEA technology consists of modified sugars that inhibit the incorporation of fucose into the carbohydrate chains of monoclonal antibodies, which resulted in enhanced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) activity in preclinical models, according to a company press release. The modified sugars can be readily added to standard cell-culture media without affecting manufacturing processes while maintaining yields and reproducible product quality, according to the release.

The company believes that its SEA technology is simpler and less expensive compared with existing technologies for enhancing antibody effector function because it can be applied to existing cell lines without cell-line reengineering. In model systems, the technology has been shown to be applicable across a range of antibodies and antibody-producing cell lines.

Seattle Genetics has filed a patent application covering the SEA technology. It plans to use the technology in its internal early-stage drug pipeline as well as in collaboration with other companies.

The company says that monoclonal antibodies possessing enhanced effector function are an emerging area of therapeutic research with at at least 10 ADCC-enhanced antibodies in clinical trials using a variety of technologies.