Nona Biosciences and Kodiak Sciences Inc. are collaborating to support the advancement of novel multi-target antibodies intended to treat ophthalmic diseases.
Give me the rundown on these companies.
First up: Kodiak.
This Palo Alto, California-headquartered clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company operates with a focus on the research, development, and commercialization of therapeutics intended to treat retinal diseases.
Key to its research: The antibody biopolymer conjugate (ABC) platform, designed to enable multi-mechanism therapies with durability and to block all vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A isoforms.
Now to Nona.
Based in Natick, Massachusetts, the global biotechnology company is developing technology solutions via preclinical research on “integrated antibody and antibody-related discovery services.”
Key to its research: The proprietary Harbour Mice fully human antibody platform, which encompasses two proprietary transgenic mouse platforms for generating human therapeutic antibodies.
- Take note: This is the basis of the companies’ partnership.
Tell me more about this platform.
Nona’s Harbour Mice platform is designed to generate fully human monoclonal antibodies in two formats (see below), with the intent to eliminate the need for additional engineering or humanization:
- Heavy chain-only (HCAb) format
- Two heavy and two light chains (H2L2) format
Focusing on the HCAb platform: In this platform, each antibody is designed to be an estimated 50% the size of a regular immunoglobulin G (IgG) with similar pharmacokinetic properties and Fc-domain functions.
- What this enables: The development of products with characteristics not attainable via standard antibody platforms—a major advantage for next-gen antibody therapies.
- See here for a more detailed explanation
And with the H2L2 platform: This features transgenic mice with fully human immunoglobulin genes with “robust B cell development and antibody maturation.”
So how does the platform fit into this partnership?
Per the companies’ agreement, Kodiak will use both the H2L2 and HCAb Harbour Mice platforms in “multiple programs for therapeutic antibody discovery and development.”
As Kodiak Chairman and CEO Victor Perlroth, MD, noted, advancing more effective therapies for retinal diseases will require targeting multiple pathways at once.
Nona Chairman Jinsong Wang, MD, PhD, added that the collaboration further validates the company’s Harbour Mice platform.
“We look forward to supporting Kodiak Sciences in accelerating their next-generation therapeutic antibody development and bringing more innovative therapies to patients,” he stated.
And those programs include …
While no specifics were provided in the announcement, Kodiak’s pipeline includes three investigational candidate programs targeting the following retinal diseases:
- Candidate: tarcocimab tedromer
- Wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD)
- Retinal vein occlusion (RVO)
- Non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR)
- Candidate: KSI-501
- Wet AMD
- Diabetic macular edema (DME)
- Candidate: KSI-101
- Macular edema secondary to inflammation
See our most recent coverage of the programs’ clinical progress.