Fusion Antibodies reports progress with DR5 project

(Sharecast News) - Fusion Antibodies said on Monday that its grant-funded DR5 project with Queen's University Belfast had made further progress, with the antibody successfully humanised using the company's proprietary CDRx platform and several more complex structural variants showing positive results in tumour cell death assays. The AIM-traded antibody discovery and engineering specialist said the gene encoding the lead humanised antibody had also been inserted into a stable cell line suitable for large-scale manufacture.

It said new microfluidic technology at the Future Medicines Institute had reduced the cell line development timeline by about 50% to around four months.

Fusion said UK Research & Innovation had agreed to extend the project's completion date to 31 December from 31 October, allowing further pre-clinical evaluation in cancer models.

Chief executive Adrian Kinkaid said the InnovateUK grant support had allowed the project to progress "smoothly and successfully", while chief scientific officer Richard Buick said the latest variants had shown "robust activity in induced cancer cell death assays".

At 1501 BST, shares in Fusion Antibodies were up 0.17% at 12.02p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

See latest RNS on Investegate