We are occasionally asked about the success rate of different antibody platforms for drug discovery. There are a variety of technologies available for therapeutic antibody discovery: conventional mice where the Abs are humanized, human Ab transgenic rodents, human Ab synthetic phage and yeast libraries, and others.

 However, the majority (~85%) of approved antibody therapeutics have been obtained from immunized conventional or human Ab transgenic rodents versus synthetic libraries.

This observation is confirmed in a recent white paper by Andrew Burrows, The Future of Monoclonal Antibodies (KNECT 365 Life Sciences). The article lists 10 Abs that have been newly FDA approved in Q1-Q3, 2018, and 18 therapeutic Abs approaching BLA or under FDA review. Of the 10 newly approved Abs, 7 were obtained by humanization of conventional mouse Abs, 2 were from human Ab-producing transgenic mice and one from phage display. Of the 18 therapeutic antibodies approaching BLA or under FDA review, 11 are humanized, 4 from transgenic mice, 1 is a mouse - human chimera, 1 is a Camelid bivalent VHH, and 1 is an Ab from Ribosome Display. Thus, 25 out of 28 Abs (89%) of newly approved or pending approval therapeutic Abs were derived from immunized rodents. At Antibody Solutions, we focus on Abs generated by conventional or human Ab transgenic rodents since they have a proven track record for generating the majority of therapeutic antibodies.

If you are interested in reading the full report on the Future of Monoclonal Antibodies, you can be download it for free from the Knect365 website here: https://knect365.com/next-generation-therapeutics/article/5bda0068-5729-42b5-9f7a-621b9cecf5a2/the-future-of-monoclonal-antibodies-whitepaper.