Affitech AS was an antibody research company founded in Norway in 1998 and combined with Danish Pharmexa in 2009. Together the two companies formed Affitech A/S.

An antibody also known as an immunoglobulin is a large Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects like bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique part of the foreign target, termed an antigen. Each tip of the "Y" of an antibody contains a paratope (a structure analogous to a lock) that is specific for one particular epitope (that is equivelent to a key) on an antigen, allowing these two structures to bind together with precision. Using this binding mechanism, an antibody can tag a microbe or an infected cell for attack by other parts of the immune system, or can neutralize its target directly (for example, by blocking a part of a microbe that is essential for its invasion and survival). The production of antibodies is the main function of the humoral immune system

AT001/r84 - is a fully human, highly selective antibody to Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Affitech's lead compound. AT001/r84 specifically disrupts VEGF binding only to VEGFR2, the dominant angiogenic receptor.

AT008 – is a GPCR antibody program for chemokine receptor CCR4

A bispecific monoclonal antibody is an artificial protein that is composed of fragments of two different monoclonal antibodies and consequently binds to two different types of antigen.

The "Breitling" family of patents, originally filed by the German Cancer Research Centre (Heidelberg, Germany), is exclusively licensed to Affitech AS. The Breitling family of patents covers the use of full-length pIII phage protein as a scaffold in a phagemid vector, and is one of the fundamental groups of patents for the phagemid display of antibody, antibody fragments and proteins.

CBAS
Cell Based Antibody Selection (CBASTM) – an innovative state-of-the-art technology platform that identifies antibody drug leads that bind to cell surface receptors in their natural environment, especially important for the discovery of antibodies to complex cell receptors such as G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) an important class of drug targets. Affitech has used the CBAS technology to generate antibodies to multiple different G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCRs are implicated in the pathology of both inflammatory conditions and cancers.

CBAS is an in vitro reverse-screening approach starting with cells and tissues for the discovery of both antibodies and their targets from disease-specific cells, which generates results faster than by more traditional genomic- or proteomic-based systems. In the latter, going from target identification through antibody identification and validation and into clinical development would take, typically, four to five years. The CBAS approach, starting from cells and including target and antibody identification and validation, will take two to three years to reach clinical development.

In CBAS, the use of intact disease cells for antibody and target discovery enables the generation of antibodies having high affinity for targets in their normal membrane-bound configuration. Subtractive screening leads to the identification of cell-type/disease-specific cell-surface antigens. CBAS, therefore, offers obvious advantages at a time when the discovery of novel targets is one of the most difficult aspects of early-stage antibody research.

Affitech has applied CBAS to many human cancer cell types including breast, bladder, pancreatic, colon, lung, and prostate. The resulting antibodies tend to show a high level of antibody-mediated cancer-cell killing activity alone and also when tested as an immunotoxin. They also demonstrate excellent immunohistochemistry data on nanomolar affinity, Dr. Das claims.

CCR4 is a chemokine G protein coupled receptor playing multiple roles in cancer progress and suppression of anti-tumor immune responses. CCR4 is expressed in
- primary tumors in hematological cancers (T cell lymphoma/leukemias) and solid tumors
- surrounding stroma
- metastatic lesions
- regulatory T cells (in stroma and circulation)

Chemokine receptors are cytokine receptors found on the surface of certain cells, which interact with a type of cytokine called a chemokine. There have been 19 distinct chemokine receptors described in mammals. They each have a 7 transmembrane (7TM) structure and couple to G-protein for signal transduction within a cell, making them members of a large protein family of G protein-coupled receptors. Following interaction with their specific chemokine ligands, chemokine receptors trigger a flux in intracellular calcium (Ca2+) ions (calcium signaling). This causes cell responses, including the onset of a process known as chemotaxis that traffics the cell to a desired location within the organism. Chemokine receptors are divided into different families, CXC chemokine receptors, CC chemokine receptors, CX3C chemokine receptors and XC chemokine receptors that correspond to the 4 distinct subfamilies of chemokines they bind.
There is a good disease association in cancer, immune disorders and inflammation, and a comparatively well understood biology and good validation of targets. The natural ligands are peptides so antibody drug approach should be feasible.
Initial commercial validation (Amgen acquired ROW non-oncology rights to KW-0761 for $100 Million)
Currently 18 antibodies in various stages of development aimed at chemokine GPCRs, only one drug on the market (topical psoriasis, China)

CXCR4 is chemokine receptor target, for which Affitech develops a novel anti-CXCR4 antibody

Human monoclonal antibodies are produced using transgenic mice or phage display libraries. Affitech produces fully human antibodies using phage display libraries.

G Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) is the largest known protein family, accounting for >2% of the entire genome. GPCRs are involved in a wide range of disorders and biological functions: Allergy, CVD, obesity, cancer, pain, diabetes, CNS and cell migration, inflammation, angiogenesis, cancer metastasis, neurotransmission, hormone action, etc.

~20% of marketed drugs target GPCRs but only a fraction of the cell surface receptors

Most GPCRs are not yet inhibited by any drug: Currently only one marketed GPCR antibody

Molecule Based Antibody Screening (MBASTM) – fast, effective and well proven for excellent functionality against a large number of different antibody targets, including small molecule drug, hormones, growth factors, simple receptors, carbohydrates and toxins. MBAS involves the conventional phagemid display of human antibody libraries covering IgM, IgD, and IgG repertoires.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAb or moAb) are monospecific antibodies that are the same because they are made by identical immune cells that are all clones of a unique parent cell. Given almost any substance, it is possible to create monoclonal antibodies that specifically bind to that substance; they can then serve to detect or purify that substance. This has become an important tool in biochemistry, molecular biology and medicine. When used as medications, the non-proprietary drug name ends in -mab

Phage display is a method for the study of protein–protein, protein–peptide, and protein–DNA interactions that uses bacteriophages to connect proteins with the genetic information that encodes them.

Pharmexa was a Danish vaccine company, established in 1998 and combined with Norwegian Affitech AS in 2009

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a signal protein produced by cells that stimulates the growth of new blood vessels. It is part of the system that restores the oxygen supply to tissues when blood circulation is inadequate. VEGF's normal function is to create new blood vessels during embryonic development, new blood vessels after injury, muscle following exercise, and new vessels (collateral circulation) to bypass blocked vessels. When VEGF is overexpressed, it can contribute to disease. Solid cancers cannot grow beyond a limited size without an adequate blood supply; cancers that can express VEGF are able to grow and metastasize. Overexpression of VEGF can cause vascular disease in the retina of the eye and other parts of the body. Drugs such as bevacizumab can inhibit VEGF and control or slow those diseases. VEGF is a sub-family of growth factors, to be specific, the platelet-derived growth factor family of cystine-knot growth factors. They are important signaling proteins involved in both vasculogenesis (the de novo formation of the embryonic circulatory system) and angiogenesis (the growth of blood vessels from pre-existing vasculature).