Alternative molecular formats and therapeutic applications for bispecific antibodies

Bispecific antibodies are on the cusp of coming of age as therapeutics more than half a century after they were first described. Two bispecific antibodies, catumaxomab (Removab®, anti-EpCAM × anti-CD3) and blinatumomab (Blincyto®, anti-CD19 × anti-CD3) are approved for therapy, and >30 additional bispecific antibodies are currently in clinical development. Many of these investigational bispecific antibody drugs are designed to retarget T cells to kill tumor cells, whereas most others are intended to interact with two different disease mediators such as cell surface receptors, soluble ligands and other proteins. The modular architecture of antibodies has been exploited to create more than 60 different…