R&D

PepFc® platform

What is the PepFc® platform??

  • A short peptide that has only the pH-dependent FcRn binding ability of Fc developed with our proprietary technology.
  • Addressing the unmet needs of the antibody drug market at once.
  • Unmet needs of the antibody drug market
    • Low tissue penetration due to large size (size of IgG ~ 150kDa): especially unfavorable for treating solid tumors.
    • Low half-life in the body due to the absence of Fc when miniaturizing antibodies (e.g. nanobody, scFv, etc.)
    • Off-target toxicity of ADC due to Fc effector function (e.g. ILD, etc.)
    • Need for improved productivity and miniaturization of bispecific antibodies
    • Technology stagnation of the antibody region in ADC (in the grand scheme of things, it does not escape from the IgG format)
    • Production cell lines are monotonous due to essential N-glycosylation of Fc.

[Miniaturized long-acting antibody with PepFc ®]

  • Efficient tissue penetration due to small size (favorable for treatment of solid tumor).
  • Excellent blood persistence because PepFc ® replaces the FcRn-mediated recycling function of Fc.
  • Improved productivity of bispecific antibodies (single polypeptide).
  • Completely excludes binding ability to FcγRs → Low risk of off-target toxicity of ADC
  • No need for PTM, allowing selection of various production cell lines (animal cells, E. coli, etc.).