AntoXa is using the vivoXPRESS® system to produce an innovator antibody (PhD9) being studied by Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) as an antidote to ricin exposure.
Ricin is a naturally occurring toxin from the Castorbean plant. It is considered a category B threat agent by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention due to its accessibility, ease of production and extreme lethality. No therapeutic antibody or vaccine is currently available to counteract its deadly effects. The PhD9 antibody drug candidate developed by DRDC prevents ricin from penetrating cells.
DRDC has conducted in vitro and in vivo studies that found the plant-made version of the antibody showed therapeutic efficacy against ricin intoxication that was comparable to hD9 produced using mammalian cell technology. The findings were presented at the Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics Conference in December 2015.
Learn more about AntoXa’s product pipeline.