EDITOR'S BLOG
Camel
Related to the llama, camels too play their part in biopharma, in particular the manufacture of nanobodies – an antibody fragment which, due to its size, is more flexible and can lead to better penetration.
Merck Serono and AbbVie are investigating llama and camel derived nanobodies, partnering biotech firm Ablynx. Furthermore, only this week Merck & Co. extended its license of the technology and Ablynx CEO Edwin Moses talked us through the process of using camelids:
“We simply immunize 2-3 with the antigen of interest and within a couple of months we take a blood sample and it will contain heavy chain only antibodies against the target,” he said, rather than just the classical heavy-light chain pairings.
