Nonclinical Development of ANX005: A Humanized Anti-C1q Antibody for Treatment of Autoimmune and Neurodegenerative Diseases.

ANX005 is a humanized immunoglobulin G4 recombinant antibody against C1q that inhibits its function as the initiating molecule of the classical complement cascade. The safety and tolerability of ANX005 are currently being evaluated in a phase I trial in healthy volunteers ( www.clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT03010046). Inhibition of C1q can be applied therapeutically in a broad spectrum of diseases, including acute antibody-mediated autoimmune disease, such as Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), and in chronic diseases of the central nervous system involving complement-mediated neurodegeneration, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). To support the clinical development of ANX005, several studies were conducted to assess the pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and potential toxicity of ANX005. ANX-M1, the murine precursor of ANX005, functionally inhibits the classical complement cascade both in vitro and in vivo, to protect against disease pathology in mouse models of GBS and AD. Toxicology studies with ANX005, itself, showed that intravenous administration once weekly for 4 weeks was well tolerated in rats and monkeys, with no treatment-related adverse findings. Serum levels of ANX005 in monkeys correlate with a reduction in free C1q levels both in the serum and in the cerebrospinal fluid. In summary, ANX005 has shown proof of concept in in vitro and in vivo nonclinical pharmacology models, with no toxicity in the 4-week repeat-dose studies in rats and monkeys. The no observed adverse effect level was 200 mg/kg/dose, which is 200-fold higher than the first-in-human starting dose of 1 mg/kg in healthy volunteers.

An Introduction to the Regulatory and Nonclinical Aspects of the Nonclinical Development of Antibody Drug Conjugates.

Antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) are promising therapies currently in development for oncology with unique and challenging regulatory and scientific considerations. While there are currently no regulatory guidelines specific for the nonclinical development of ADCs, there are harmonized international guidelines (e.g., ICHS6(R1), ICHM3(R2), ICHS9) that apply to ADCs and provide a framework for their complex development with issues that apply to both small and large molecules. The regulatory and scientific perspectives on ADCs are evolving due to both the advances in ADC technology and a better understanding of the safety and efficacy of ADCs in clinical development. This paper introduces the key scientific and regulatory aspects of the nonclinical development of ADCs, discusses important regulatory and scientific issues in the nonclinical to clinical dose translation of ADCs, and introduces new concepts in the areas of pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) modeling and simulation.

The development of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies: overview of the nonclinical safety assessment.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) represent a class of biotechnology-derived therapeutics for use in the treatment of various disease indications such as oncology, autoimmune, cardiovascular, and metabolic disorders. Monoclonal antibodies are immunoglobulin (Ig) proteins engineered to bind to specific antigens with high specificity. The concepts reviewed in this paper include 1) the regulatory procedures and guidelines that apply to mAbs, 2) the types of toxicology studies applicable to mAbs, and 3) the scientific challenges, such as the selection of a relevant animal species and the development of anti-drug antibodies, that can arise due to the unique properties of mAbs.

Considerations regarding nonhuman primate use in safety assessment of biopharmaceuticals.

Selection of a pharmacologically responsive species can represent a major challenge in designing nonclinical safety assessment programs for many biopharmaceuticals (eg, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs)). Frequently, the only relevant species for nonclinical testing of mAbs is the non-human primate (NHP). This situation, coupled with a rapidly increasing number of mAb drugs in development, has resulted in a significant increase in the number of NHPs used in nonclinical safety assessment. Apart from ethical considerations related to responsible animal use, there is a clear need for more efficient and innovative approaches to drug discovery and development; these factors drive the need to investigate alternative approaches and strategies for the safety assessment. This review summarizes important scientific and regulatory perspectives derived from presentations and audience discussions in an educational forum at the 2010 annual American College of Toxicology meeting regarding opportunities for employing alternative approaches to minimize NHP use in mAb drug development.