Developing innovative immunotherapies for infectious diseases and cancer
Abound Bio is a company whose mission is to generate novel antibody-based biological therapeutics to meet unmet medical needs in the fields of cancer and infectious disease. Abound Bio is led by world renowned experts in the therapeutic antibody, infectious disease, and cancer space with a significant track record of successful development of biotherapeutics, licensing, and partnerships.
Focusing on Difficult Therapeutic Targets
Current Challenges to Antibody Targeting:
One of the most common forms of biological therapeutic are monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system to neutralize and remove foreign substances through recognition of antigens; the antibody’s unique molecular target. Most therapeutic mAbs share similar composition with naturally occurring antibodies, however, full-size mAbs have limitations, primarily due to the antibody’s large size. The issue of size makes certain targets inaccessible and prevents efficient penetration into solid tumors or sites of uncontrolled infection and inflammation.
Abound Bio’s Unique Approach:
Our team has developed several very large (>1011 clones each), diverse human antibody libraries in standard Fab and scFv, and unique VH domain formats. We can rapidly (days to weeks) discover novel, high affinity, binders in multiple formats, engineer them if needed to improve their drugability (developability), and convert them for multiple uses including IgGs, multispecific, CARs, fusion proteins and antibody drug conjugates (ADCs).
We are willing to partner with other companies and academic institutions. Differentiators include:
Novel Antibody Libraries
- Abound Bio’s industry leading antibody libraries offer size and physical property advantages. Additionally, our ability to add new libraries increases binder diversity, coverage of potential antigens, screening capacity, and probability of identifying a lead therapeutic antibody candidate.
Antibody Engineering into Appropriate Therapeutic Format
- We incorporate diversified binder formats (Fab, scFv, VH) into the appropriate therapeutic platform (ADC, CAR, multispecific). Each indication and target may have different requirements; thus, the breadth of binder format provides a greater chance for success.
Unmatched Expertise
Abound Bio was founded by renowned experts with a track-record of success and vast depth of knowledge. Supported by a team of highly skilled scientists, Dr. John Mellors and Dr. Dimiter Dimitrov bring unique and complementary skillsets highly desired by the biopharmaceutical industry.
John Mellors, MD
President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Mellors is Chief of Infectious Diseases and Distinguished Professor at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC. He has over 30 years of experience in laboratory science, clinical investigation and consultation for pharmaceutical development. He has more than 300 publications and multiple patents.
Dimiter Dimitrov, PhD, ScD
Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Dimitrov is a world-leading antibody scientist and engineer recruited from the NIH with 30 years of experience. He has over 300 publications, 100 patents, and multiple discoveries leading to one antibody drug approval and the generation of several others in clinical development. Most notable are the antibody against Hendra and Nipah viruses, which is approved for clinical use on compassionate basis in Australia and the anti-CD22 antibody licensed by Juno and currently being developed as a CAR-T cell therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This latter molecule has demonstrated clinical activity in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia resistant to CD19 CAR-T cell therapy.
Latest News
Company CEO, John Mellors and CSO, Dimiter Dimitrov joined UPMC COVID-19 Preparedness Press Briefing about Potential Anti-COVID-19 Drug
Scientists at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh have created an anti-COVID-19 drug that treats and prevents infection from SARS-CoV-2 virus in animals. Abound Bio has licensed the drug for worldwide development. On September 15, company CEO John Mellors and CSO Dimiter Dimitrov joined the UPMC COVID-19 Preparedness Press Briefing.
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Yufan Biotechnologies and Abound Bio Sign Multi-Year Agreement to Develop Next Generation CAR T-cell Therapies for Cancer
Yufan Biotechnologies has now partnered with AboundBio to direct CAR T-cells against cancer targets. The agreement covers 10 cancer targets over multiple years with shared inventorship and development rights for the new technologies.
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