BioWa Announces New Generation Of Technology: Potelligent RNAi
PRINCETON, N.J./EWORLDWIRE/Feb. 3, 2005 --- BioWa has harnessed the ability to create 100-percent fucose-free antibodies thereby dramatically enhancing Antigen Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity (ADCC), the critical mechanism in anti-tumor activity. Potelligent(TM) Technology intelligently optimizes potency and clinical potential of antibodies. Now, BioWa is proud to introduce a new version of this revolutionary technology: Potelligent RNAi.
Potelligent RNAi is a gene knockdown vector, which converts existing antibody production cells into low-fucose producers. Potelligent RNAi provides constitutive expression of the small interfering RNA (siRNA), specially designed to knockdown the genes related to the fucose metabolism pathway in mammalian cells. While having the same basic properties as the original production cells, the resulting knockdown cell lines stably produce low-fucose, ADCC-enhanced antibodies. Potelligent RNAi is compatible with most common host cell lines including NS0, SP2/0 and CHO.
Potelligent RNAi saves time and money to optimize an existing process to produce higher potency antibodies. "There has been a growing demand from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries for antibody-based technologies. In order to satisfy this demand, BioWa continues to expand our human antibody technology platform and our product pipeline activities," said Dr. Nobuo Hanai, president of BioWa. Hanai continued, "Potelligent RNAi now enables the ability to enhance the potency and clinical response of current antibody therapies as well as new therapies in a quick and easy way."
About Potelligent(TM) Technology
The human body has an excellent self-defense mechanism, the immune system where antibodies are created to protect the body from diseases when foreign organisms like pathogenic bacteria enter the body. Therapeutic antibodies are based on or are designed to make full use of the body's own defense activity. ADCC activity is the most critical function of the human immune system. With this activity, white blood cells such as NK cells and monocytes kill target cells like cancer cells. ADCC activity is the major anticancer mechanism of already launched therapeutic antibodies on the market today. Enhancing this activity is the spotlight worldwide as the next-generation antibody technology.
Potelligent Technology involves the complete elimination of fucose from the carbohydrate structure of an antibody. Potelligent derived antibodies enhance antibody performance overall. Studies have shown that Potelligent cells enhance antigen-dependent cellular cytotoxicity up to 100-fold in vitro. The benefits of Potelligent derived antibodies is greater tumor-cell-killing activity than with conventional antibodies, potential for an expanded base of responding patients, reduced side effects with decreased dose requirements, and no change in key clinical parameters, i.e., selectivity, pharmacokinetics, and immunogenicity. Research shows that Potelligent Technology dramatically enhances binding affinity to the Fc receptor.
Potelligent Technology is an easy fit with conventional production and purification methods. Due to the effectiveness of the technology, production costs and capacity requirements decrease.
About BioWa Inc.
BioWa is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co, Ltd, Japan's leading pharmaceutical and largest biotech company. BioWa is the exclusive worldwide licensor of Potelligent(TM) Technology. Potelligent(TM) Technology creates high antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) monoclonal antibodies. ADCC is a critical function of the immune system that enhances the ability of antibodies to kill tumor cells. The enhancement of ADCC is seen up to 100 fold in vitro. Both BioWa and Kyowa Hakko are currently developing ADCC-enhanced monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics to fight cancer and other life threatening and debilitating diseases in various clinical stages. BioWa creates and develops enhanced ADCC antibodies for itself and others, offering a full range of antibody discovery and development capabilities. More information about BioWa is available at its website at www.biowa.com. |
