Contract will cover activities from cell-line development through to GMP supply.

Cobra Biologics and Alligator Bioscience have entered into a manufacturing services and supply agreement for the production of mAb drug substance and drug product for preclinical studies and Phase I/II trials using Cobra’s MaxXpress platform.

Cobra’s MaxXpress service harnesses the firm’s ubiquitous chromatin opening elements (UCOEs) protein expression technology, which is designed to ensure efficient expression in a wide range of cell types. The UCOE platform is combined with Cobra’s Cello™ robotic clone selection system to facilitate rapid clone selection and mAb production. The firm claims the service enables the rapid production of gram quantities of recombinant proteins, ensures efficient expression that is independent of chromosomal integration, and eliminates the need to screen thousands of clones.  

Alligator is leveraging its proprietary single-stranded DNA-based evolutionary protein optimization technology FIND® (fragment induced siversity) to discover and develop protein-based drugs targeting inflammatory diseases and cancer. The firm’s lead immunotherapy for cancer (IMCAN) program is headed by two preclinical-stage candidates, antibody-based ADC-1013 and protein-based ADC-1014. Both candidates are in development for localized anticancer treatment and have been developed using the FIND technology.

Alligator’s C5a receptor antagonist immunotherapy against ischemia reperfusion injury is also in preclinical development but has been put on hold to enable Alligator to focus on the most advanced IMCAN product ADC-1013, which is expected to enter clinical trials in 2013.

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