ABL Bio - medicine for A Better Life

- Celgene’s BCMAxCD3 Clinical Trial Data Attracts Attention from American Society of Hematology

- ABL Bio’s BCMAx4-1BB Bispecific Antibody Expected to Show Better Efficacy and Stability Compared to Previous BCMAxCD3

December 10, 2019 - After BCMAxCD3 by Celgene Corporation (“Celgene”) garnered attention from the American Society of Hematology, ABL Bio, Inc. (“ABL Bio”) has been the topic of conversation with its announcement of BCMAx4-1BB Bisepcific Antibody (BsAb) that combines CD3 with another immune modulation target 4-1BB.

It is known that Celgene’s BCMAxCD3 BsAb CC-93269, which had entered its clinical trial this April, achieved 88.9% of overall response rate (ORR) including high stringent complete response/complete response (sCR/CR) rate of 44.4% after administering high dose (10 mg) to patients of late-stage multiple myeloma, a cancer that has no suitable drugs.

Compared to Celgene’s BCMAxCD3 BsAb, ABL Bio’s BCMAx4-1BB BsAb has no cytokine release syndrome (CRS), which is prevalent in CD3. In addition, while CD3 activates only the T-cells among human immune cells, 4-1BB engages with not only T-cells but also natural killer (NK) cells, making it a platform that is expected to perform remarkably better in terms of efficacy. In the case of ABL Bio’s 4-1BB platform, it has been proven to be superior in terms of stability, as it has resolved the issue of liver toxicity. The superiority of ABL Bio’s BCMAx4-1BB BsAb is gaining attention also because its half-life is overwhelmingly longer than that of BiTE platform-based BCMAxCD3 by Amgen.  

For BCMA CAR-T, which was the hot topic in last year’s American Society of Hematology, there is the challenge of creating patient-specific therapeutics. In case of BsAb, however, it is in the spotlight because not only is it easy to administer but also has better market opportunity than CAR-T in terms of price. Expressing strong confidence in the company’s BCMAx4-1BB BsAb, Sang Hoon Lee, the founder and CEO of ABL Bio, said, “Our BCMAx4-1BB is currently in preclinical stage but once it enters the clinical trial, it is expected to show better efficacy than Celgene’s CC-93269, as well as superb data in terms of stability.” This BsAb is currently under joint research and development with ABL Bio’s partner company TRIGR in the US and Dt&SanoMedics in Korea.

In January of next year at the JP Morgan conference, ABL Bio and global big pharmas will have serious discussions not only on ABL Bio’s multiple BsAb-based immuno-oncology but also ABL301, a BsAb for treating Parkinson’s Disease, which is combined with blood brain barrier (BBB) penetration platform. This event will be of great interest to the industry as ABL Bio is expected to release data on ABL301 in comparison with that of Roche’s BsAb-base