Sorrento Therapeutics completes construction of fully human mAbs library

Apr 15 2010

Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SRNE) today announced that it has completed the construction of an extensive library of full-length, fully human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Initial analysis indicates a potential diversity of more than one trillion unique mAbs. The company believes this makes its library the largest full-length, fully human antibody library available for drug discovery and development partnerships. Importantly, Sorrento Therapeutics' proprietary technologies generate antibodies that are unencumbered by third-party royalty obligations placed on conventional antibody discovery technologies.

"We believe Sorrento Therapeutics has one of the strongest antibody development platforms available. Industry-leading library diversity and the immediate availability of full-length antibodies offer rapid discovery and development timelines. Our proprietary technologies are designed to efficiently identify optimal antibody candidates against potentially any disease target," said Antonius Schuh, Ph.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Sorrento Therapeutics.

Sorrento Therapeutics' proprietary mammalian display system enables the expression and isolation of full-length human antibodies. In contrast, antibody libraries displayed in phage or yeast systems typically generate antibody fragments, which require further configuration into full-length antibodies for therapeutic development. Sorrento Therapeutics uses fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to rapidly identify high-affinity antibody candidates from its library for immediate downstream development.

The extensive diversity of Sorrento Therapeutics' library of complete antibodies increases the likelihood of identifying candidates with optimal biological activity against validated disease targets. Sorrento Therapeutics' patented technology for the amplification and enrichment of the immunoglobulin variable domain sequences applies ribonucleic acid (RNA) transcription to ensure high representation of the vast diversity of the immunoglobulin gene repertoire. The library was created using an input of antibody-generating source cells from approximately 600 donors and covers all major classes of immunoglobulins (i.e. IgM, IgG1 - 4, IgA, IgD and IgE).

SOURCE Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.