Mumbai-based Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said its BEAT platform has led to the start of investigational new drug-enabling studies for its second anticancer biological molecule GBR 1342.
The first discovery from the BEAT platform (Bi-specific Engagement by Antibodies based on the T cell receptor) led to the development in August 2014 of GBR 1302, which is in the clinical development phase.
"GBR 1342 is the second bi-specific antibody emerging from our BEAT platform. With the 1302 project we learned how to efficiently engineer and manufacture this novel type of antibody and we are now applying those lessons to several other targets," Michael Buschle, chief scientific officer and president of biologics at Glenmark, said in a report by BW Businessworld.
GBR 1342 targets cytotoxic T cells that cause multiple myeloma, the report said.
Glenmark announced last September that its GBR 1302 breast cancer candidate would enter Phase I trials in Germany by March of this year.
Glenmark's BEAT technology produces bi-specific antibodies that are more stable and easier to manufacture than previous attempts.
The company currently has three monoclonal antibodies undergoing active clinical development. They include GBR 830 to treat autoimmune diseases, which is in Phase II clinical development, GBR 900 for chronic pain, which is in clinical Phase I trials under license by Italy's Lay Line Genomics, and GBR 1302.
- here's the company release (PDF)
- here's the report by BW Businessworld