A Nature Biotechnology article published online January 17
reveals that Xencor Inc.’s proprietary Fc engineering extends the
half-life of antibodies while maintaining their potency and extending
duration of action. These results, published in an article entitled,
“Enhanced antibody half-life improves in vivo activity” demonstrate the
potential of Fc engineering to impact the flexibility of route, schedule
and dose for nearly any antibody.
“Enhanced antibody half-life improves in vivo activity”
“Competition is heating up in biologics, with patent expirations looming
and the market demanding drugs that will improve patient compliance,”
said John Desjarlais, Ph.D., vice president of research at Xencor and
lead author on the study. “Although monoclonal antibodies have
reasonably long half-lives, market pressures for less frequent dosing
schedules can reduce efficacy. In this Nature Biotechnology paper,
our research shows that it’s possible with pharmacokinetic engineering
to maintain efficacy of antibody drugs, but with less frequent dosing
and greater patient convenience.”