Powering the Immune System to Transform Lives

Antibody and T-cell engager discovery and engineering platform

Our discovery and engineering platform has already enabled us to develop antibody-based medicines for two of the greatest health challenges of our time, and it continues to fuel our pipeline with promising antibodies and TCEs.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we discovered sotrovimab¹, an antibody that offered patients an option to reduce the risk of severe illness at a time when therapeutic choices were extremely limited.

Similarly, with ansuvimab-zykl, we responded to the urgent need to address the high mortality and lack of effective treatments associated with Ebola, bringing new hope to patients facing this deadly infection. This life-saving treatment was approved by the U.S. FDA in 2020 and continues to be in use in response to continuous Ebola outbreaks.

Biologics such as antibodies and T-cell engagers (TCEs) are revolutionizing the treatment landscape for infectious diseases and cancer, thanks to their ability to very specifically target proteins that are linked to disease. Our proprietary antibody discovery and engineering platform is designed to harness their potential by identifying the optimal building blocks for us to develop medicines for infectious diseases and cancer.

Leveraging this platform, we identify rare and broad antibodies and antibody fragments (which establish the basis for TCEs) for selected targets with enhanced selectivity and potency. Next, we engineer them to modulate how our drug candidates interact with the immune system. We also improve important features by using advanced tools like artificial intelligence.

Specifically, our proprietary artificial intelligence engine, dAIsY™ (data AI structure and antibodY), allows us to bring high-quality drug candidates to the clinic more efficiently. dAIsY™ uses a mix of open source and proprietary tools, enabling us to fine tune multiple desirable antibody characteristics simultaneously, ultimately generating drug candidates with the highest potential for success in clinical development.

Antibodies and TCEs are closer in structure to each other than they might look at first glance. In fact, TCEs are built from antibody fragments and similarly recognize and bind to targets with high precision. Our deep expertise in antibody discovery and engineering provides a strong foundation for developing next-generation TCEs as well as antibody-based therapeutics for cancer. We are leveraging our antibody discovery track-record, AI-driven design tools and the PRO-XTEN^® masking platform to identify and optimize TCE candidates with superior efficacy and safety profiles.

To learn more about the areas in which we are using the PRO-XTEN^® masking platform, click here.

¹GSK holds a marketing authorization for sotrovimab in the EU, Norway, Iceland, Bahrain, Great Britain (conditional), and Switzerland (conditional). In Japan, a Special Approval in Emergency has been granted. In addition, sotrovimab has a temporary/emergency use authorization in the UAE and Oman.

Vir Biotechnology has exclusive rights to the PRO-XTEN® masking platform for oncology and infectious disease. PRO-XTEN® is a trademark of Amunix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Sanofi company.