Vaccinex, Inc. announced a new publication in the journal mAbs describing a novel way in which its proprietary ActivMAb® poxvirus platform can enable the presentation of high complexity, hard-to-drug proteins as targets for antibody discovery. The article, titled ?Use of poxvirus display to select antibodies specific for complex membrane antigens? provides an overview of how Vaccinex created an elegant, poxvirus system modified for safety that can readily express high levels of hard-to-drug protein targets, such as G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and ion channels, on the natural external membrane of virus in a ?native?, properly-oriented conformation.

This allows a consistent supply of protein to be readily available as antibody immunogens and greatly facilitates the screening, selection and affinity improvement of antibody candidates. This novel application of Vaccinex?s ActivMAb technology was successfully used with OmniAb, Inc.?s high-throughput B cell screening and proprietary in vivo immunization platform. OmniAb was able to select antibodies against challenging multipass membrane targets (ion channel Kv1.3 and a chemokine receptor), that were displayed on ActivMAb antigen viruses.

Dr. Smith has been invited to present this exciting work at CHI's 11th Annual Discovery on Target (DOT) conference in Boston, which takes place from September 25-28, 2023. The team will be making both podium and poster presentations at this preeminent event. ActivMAb is a proprietary mammalian cell-based antibody discovery platform developed by Vaccinex with unique capabilities for multi-pass membrane targets such as G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).

The ActivMAb technology has multiple applications including: complex membrane antigen presentation and expression, antibody and antigen discovery, directed evolution and protein optimization. The first clinical candidate selected through use of this technology (SRF114, a fully human monoclonal antibody targeting CCR8 for the potential treatment of solid tumors), entered development in a Phase 1/2 study sponsored by its licensee, Surface Oncology, recently acquired by Coherus Biosciences, Inc. The technology and its potential applications for drug discovery against complex membrane protein targets have been described in several publications and is the focus of collaborations with leading biopharmaceutical companies.