Antibody Therapeutic Modalities Report 2020

Global research study into the development, targets, challenges and technologies of different therapeutics. October 2020

Antibody Therapeutic Modalities Report 2020

Within antibody engineering and therapeutics, there are now a number of different modalities the industry is working on, including monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), protein therapeutics, bispecifics, immuno-oncology checkpoints, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and CAR-T/cellular therapies. At the same time, work on these modalities is increasingly exploring new non-cancer targets.

In May 2020, the Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics conference series conducted a study of industry professionals from around the world. This final report based on 166 survey responses reveals unique insights into the development of and approach to each of these novel modalities.

Key Insights

17% of respondents working on immuno-oncology checkpoints have therapies in Phase III or IV - the highest of any modality.
36% of respondents are working on therapeutics targeting auto-immune diseases - the highest target after cancer.
55% of respondents say that new targets/discovery approaches is the biggest challenge they are facing.
62% of respondents working with mAbs see computational approaches/Machine learning/Artificial Intelligence as the most promising technology for enabling development.

Which of the following types of therapeutic
is your company currently working with?

Unsurprisingly, mAbs were the most common (79%) type of therapeutic that respondents are working on, followed by 57% of companies developing protein therapeutics and 55% bispecifics.

Over the course of this report, we explore what phase of development companies are in for each modality, what they are targeting, the challenges that still need to be overcome and the enabling technologies and platforms being used.

Demographics

Respondent organizations

Respondent job function

Regions respondents are based

What phase(s) of development are the therapeutics you are working with currently in?

In this section we look at the development phase that different modalities are in. As this chart shows, the majority of all respondents are currently in discovery/pre- clinical, with fewer and fewer in each stage - just 3% of respondents are working on therapeutics in Phase IV.

Looking more closely at the stage of development of different modalities, it is a similar story for most. However, protein therapeutics appear to be slightly more advanced amongst respondents, with 36% in Phase II-IV trials, versus just 21% of those working with bispecifics.

Immuno-oncology checkpoints has the highest proportion of therapies in Phase III and IV, with 17% of respondents working on them at that stage of development. This is contrast to just 6% of those working on CAR-T/cellular therapies.

What are the targets of the therapeutics you are working on?

When asked about what respondents are targeting with antibody therapeutics, unsurprisingly cancer comes out top by far with 73% of respondents. Auto-immune (36%) and infectious (27%) diseases are the next most common targets.

What are the targets of the therapeutics you are working on? - BY MODALITY

When comparing targets by different modalities, some interesting differences emerge. For example there is over 20% difference between modalities for cancer, auto-immune diseases, rare diseases and infectious diseases.

What are the biggest challenges you are
facing with the therapeutics you are working on?

There are still a huge number of challenges that need to be overcome within antibody engineering and therapeutics, particularly around novel modalities. New targets/discovery approaches (55%) was the biggest challenge most respondents are facing, closely followed by transitioning from discovery to the clinic (44%).

What are the biggest challenges you are facing with the
therapeutics you are working on? - BY MODALITY

Each different therapeutic modality has a unique set of challenges. New targets/discovery approaches is by far the biggest challenge for those working on immuno-oncology checkpoints (70%), whilst delivery is a challenge for 49% of those working on CAR-T/Cellular therapies, but just 19% of mAbs.

Which enabling technologies or platforms do you believe will have the most success for development of different therapeutics? (Click to expand any of the charts)

In general, machine learning/Artificial Intelligence and novel screening are the technologies respondents hold most hope for the development of the different therapeutics. As these charts show, unsurprisingly, different technologies are seen as more promising for some modalities than others.