Monoclonal antibodies are where it's at. They are natural, have few side-effects, and can be developed relatively quickly compared to pharmaceuticals. Right now there is a horse race going on to provide an antibody therapy for COVID-19. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals was the presumed favorite, but was just passed by the Eli Lilly/Abcellera Biologics team, who is the first to start testing. And there's another horse in the race - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Everyone appears to have a particular technological advantage. Regeneron has experience creating an antibody therapy for Ebola. Dana-Farber is drawing on an enormous library of antibody sequences it normally uses to make monoclonals against cancer. Abcellera apparently has ... speed. Abcellera's founders are co-inventors on multiple microfluidics and immunochemistry patents assigned to the University of British Columbia. Better cell handling and identification means faster monoclonal development. Coupled with Lilly's capacity for production, this team could be crossing the finish line before you can say "major histocompatibility complex."
Below is a Magic Number Radian diagram highlighting the patent documents assigned to Regeneron, Dana-Farber and UBC regarding the use or production of monoclonal antibodies. Note that they are all continuing to apply for patents in their respective technologies. Explore the pandemic sector through Magic Number’s Pandemic Patent Forecast®. Analyze the patent claims with Patent Matrix®
