About Antikor

Building on 15 years of experience in the area of fragment-based Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs), Antikor, a multidisciplinary spin-out from Imperial College London UK, has established the principle that Fragment-based ADCs (FDCs) can achieve an optimal profile for solid tumours, and thus the Company has a technology that promises to overcome some of the emerging toxicity issues seen with conventional whole-antibody-based ADCs.

Antikor’s proprietary lysine-based conjugation platform, OptiLink^TM, enables high payload loading of antibody fragments whilst maintaining desired pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. Counter-intuitively, OptiLink^TM allows far higher drug loadings on antibody fragments than has been achieved with whole monoclonal antibodies, whilst avoiding the aggregation normally associated with high DARs (Drug-Antibody Ratios).

Initially, as PhotoBiotics Ltd we bought together the disciplines of chemistry, photophysics and biochemistry to find a way to target light-activated ADCs to tumours, thus enhancing the efficacy of cancer treatment and also reducing systemic ambient light sensitivity post-treatment (i.e. painful sunburn-like symptoms). The R&D team succeeded in its primary objective of developing this technology platform. Now as Antikor the Company has been set up as a new venture to exploit OptiLink^TM for the delivery of non-light-activated payloads in the much larger field of ADCs.

Antikor Achievements

• Filed a key patent related to the use of antibody fragments to deliver cytotoxic payloads
• Generated well characterised fragment-based ADCs, using approved and novel cytotoxic compounds, achieving high Drug:Antibody ratios of up to 12:1 with no evidence of aggregation
• Obtained compelling pharmacokinetic data with these high-loaded fragment-based ADCs, demonstrating an elimination profile that is consistent with sufficient longevity to achieve a good therapeutic effect but sufficiently short to minimise potential side-effects
• Potent cell killing demostrated in vitro
• Dramatic tumour size reduction demonstrated in mouse models
• Improved manufacturing reproducibility, scale-up and quality control of these fragment-based ADCs
• Superior tolerability and toxicology profile compared to ADCs

Antikor has an active, highly experienced and award-winning team of board members and founding scientists, including:-

Antikor Board Members

Dr Till Medinger : Non-executive Chairman (former Senior Vice President for Corporate Strategy at AstraZeneca Plc, formerly Director at Domantis).
Dr Mahendra Deonarain : CEO/CSO (Honorary Reader in Antibody Technology and Therapeutics at Imperial College London)
Dr Elizabeth Rollinson : Non-executive Director (CEO Linnean Society of London, former Commercial Director for the Xenova Group Plc and Managing Director of Phogen)
Dr Carlos Pittol : Non-executive Director & Chief Business Officer (Director at Clubb Capital Ltd) 

Founding Core Scientific Team* and Science Advisory Board

Dr Till Medinger : (see above)
Dr Mahendra Deonarain (*Co-Founder, see above) :
Dr Gokhan Yahioglu (*Co-Founder) : Technical Director: Chemistry
Dr Elizabeth Rollinson : (see above)

Science Advisory Board

Professor Laurence Lovat, Division of Surgery and Interventional science, UCL/UCL-hospital. GI cancer

Professor Kerry Chester, UCL Cancer Institute and Cancer cell biology.  Antibody engineering

Dr David Mann, Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London. Cancer cell biology