Domain Antibodies

Domain Antibodies (dAbs) are the smallest functional binding units of antibodies, corresponding to the variable regions of either the heavy (VH) or light (VL) chains of human antibodies. Domain Antibodies™ have a molecular weight of approximately 13 kDa, or less than one-tenth the size of a full antibody. Domantis has developed a series of large and highly functional libraries of fully human VH and VL dAbs™ (more than ten billion different sequences in each library), and uses these libraries to select dAbs that are specific to therapeutic targets.

In contrast to conventional antibodies, Domain Antibodies are well expressed in bacterial, yeast, and mammalian cell systems. In addition, many dAbs from Domantis' libraries are highly stable and retain activity even after being subjected to harsh conditions, such as freeze-drying or heat denaturation. These features make Domain Antibodies amenable to a wide range of pharmaceutical formulation conditions and manufacture processes. In addition, the small size of dAbs allows for higher molar quantities per gram of product, which should provide a significant increase in potency per dose and reduction in overall manufacturing cost.

The Domain Antibodies selected against a particular target can be used as a building block to create therapeutic products with unique characteristics not available to conventional antibodies or proteins, such as Dual Targeting dAbs that bind to two therapeutic targets in one easily produced molecule, dAbs with a tailored serum half life, dAbs for pulmonary or oral administration for lung or GI tract diseases, and dAbs against targets that can not be easily addressed by IgGs.

AlbudAb, AlbudAbs, Domain Antibody, Domain Antibodies, Domain Antibody Therapeutics, dAb and dAbs are trademarks of the GlaxoSmithKline group of companies.