Ablexis, AlivaMab Discovery Services, and Berkeley Lights Collaborate to Identify a Diverse Panel of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Human Antibodies

Ablexis, LLC, AlivaMab Discovery Services, LLC ("ADS"), and Berkeley Lights, Inc. today announced the rapid generation and recovery of sequences encoding a rich panel of human antibodies against the S1 spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

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Based on multiplex screening assays performed on the Beacon® platform, these SARS-CoV-2 S1 antibodies may be binned into subsets based on their binding to the receptor-binding domain (S1B) of SARS-CoV2, blocking of S1B binding to the ACE2 receptor, and cross-reactivity with the S1 spike protein of the SARS-CoV virus.

The observed diversity includes activities consistent with different mechanisms of action hypothesized for highly efficacious antibody therapy and prophylaxis of infection by SARS-CoV-2. The companies will jointly make these antibodies available to an organization with the capabilities and commitment for their further research and development.

Through this collaborative project, our three companies have contributed their unique technologies and know-how to recover a diversity of potential drug-quality antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. We have observed excellent combinatorial and somatic diversity in this panel of antibodies selected for activities consistent with possible therapeutic mechanisms of action. This panel of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies can provide a wealth of material for further research and development.",

Larry Green, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Ablexis and ADS.

"We believe the key to anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic development is to rapidly screen and recover functionally diverse antibodies from an in vivo model", said Eric Hobbs, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Berkeley Lights.

"Using the Berkeley Lights platform with our process of ultra-high-throughput function-first screening, we efficiently recovered different categories of antibodies with diverse activities, each of which we believe could contribute to the fight against this terrible disease."

Ablexis' AlivaMab® Mouse platform is used by the majority of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies as the platform of choice for the rapid and efficient generation of diverse panels of antibodies with inherent qualities needed for antibody drugs, including affinity, potency, specificity, and developability.

AlivaMab Discovery Services immunized AlivaMab Mouse by expressing native trimeric SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in vivo using its propriety AMMPD-DNA technology, a process validated for rapidly eliciting strong IgG titers, and molecularly diverse, high affinity (very low picomolar) antibodies.

Next, Berkeley Lights, a leader in single-cell selection and functional screening, deployed its platform capabilities using its Beacon® system to interrogate single plasma B cells over a two-day period.

Using the assays described above to screen for binding and function, the Beacon system efficiently recovered the naturally evolved fully human VH and VL sequences and therein connects antibody function to variable region sequence for the development of therapeutic treatments.