The answer to the question of who produces monoclonal antibodies partly depends on what these antibodies are going to be used for. There are different fields of application of mAbs, such as diagnostics, immunology and general public health.
Most recently there has been an increased demand for large-scale monoclonal antibody production in the fight of the COVID-19 pandemic but also other infectious diseases. Unlike vaccines, they do not rely on the body to create an immune response, which makes them a promising tool for COVID-19 treatment but also the treatment of other infectious diseases.
Thanks to the several advantages of mAbs, including their specificity, monoclonal antibodies are used in diagnostic applications in fields such as immunology, biotechnology, biochemistry, and applied biology. Antibodies have become a critical component of many diagnostic assays used to detect infections, recognize allergies and measure hormones and other biological markers.
Providers include:
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Beyond diagnostics, monoclonal antibodies are used in a number of promising potential applications for the treatment of autoimmune and other severe diseases as well as various types of cancer. They are under constant development, with the aim to improve certain aspects such as immunogenicity, antigen-binding affinity, effector functions and pharmacokinetics.
Apart from these monoclonal antibody applications, monoclonal antibody therapeutics are used in cases of transplant rejection, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis, with many late-stage clinical trials currently being conducted.
Monoclonal antibodies have become an important tool in cancer therapy as they induce an immune response against the target cancer cell. Already, they account for one-third of all the new therapeutic treatments for different types of cancer.
Producers of mAbs therapies for cancer include Genzyme (now Sanofi), who acquired the worldwide rights for Alemtuzumab, an intravenous treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia, from Bayer AG. Another monoclonal antibody used in the treatment of cancer is Catumaxomab, which was developed by Fresenius Biotech and Trion Pharma, while Daratumumab is an antibody produced by Janssen Biotech that kills myeloma cells directly.
Also to treat COVID-19, monoclonal antibodies have recently become a promising tool. In total, five anti-SARS-CoV-2 mAb products have received US Gov Emergency Use Authorizations, with Eli Lilly’s bamlanivimab/etesevimab being the first monoclonal antibody drug the FDA authorized to treat mild to moderate COVID-19. Other providers having been granted an EUA by the by the US Food and Drug Administration for the production of COVID-19 treatments using monoclonal antibodies include
While being an important tool to advance public health, monoclonal antibodies are also used in other fields, such as biotechnology, for instance in agriculture and the food industry. Among the providers of mAbs to be used beyond healthcare are:
Full list of service providers for antibodies: Antibody production companies for monoclonal recombinant antibodies.
evitria is one of the leading recombinant antibody expression services. Generally speaking, mAbs are found in the medium supporting the growth of a hybridoma in vitro or in ascitic fluid from a mouse inoculated with the hybridoma. At evitria, recombinant antibodies are expressed using CHO cells, both for industrial applications as well as small-scale usage or research. The mammalian cell cultures that are being expressed in vitro offer a wide range of applications thanks to targeted genome editing.
This helps avoid the drawbacks associated with monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies that have been produced using traditional techniques such as hybridoma or single b cell technology, and allows for high specificity as well as increased yields.