Arana therapeutics technology platform

Arana has a powerful protein engineering technology platform that incorporates the company’s Superhumanisation™, Synhumanisation® and EvoGene™ technologies. Application of one or more of the technologies in the Arana platform transforms lead proteins, including antibodies, into potent, safe drug candidates.

Superhumanisation™ & Synhumanisation®

Superhumanisation™ compares the structure of the target-binding region of a mouse and a human antibody. It then converts the mouse antibody, which would otherwise be rejected if administered to humans, into a “humanised” form, which can be given safely to patients.

By starting with a rodent antibody and “humanising” it, the Superhumanisation™ technology better retains the important properties of the starting antibody. The Superhumanisation™ method, developed by EvoGenix, has delivered quality antibodies with a 100% success rate.

Synhumanisation® is Arana’s second proprietary technology, which uses a novel method of re-combining antibody sequences to convert antibodies of non-human origin to antibodies suitable for use in humans.

An important advantage of Arana’s Synhumanisation® technology is that for some existing, validated targets it opens up an approach to generate patentable new antibody products that would otherwise be excluded by conventional ‘humanisation’, or fully human antibody approaches due to existing competitor patents.

EvoGene™

Humanisation of an antibody can result in a decreased tightness of its attachment to the target and therefore lower potency. This can be restored or greatly improved, by the application of EvoGene™ technology.

The EvoGene™ process involves the production of billions of different, slightly mutated variants of the starting product, testing of these variants for improved binding activity to the target and selection of the best. These two steps are then repeated to select engineered antibodies with the best properties arising from the fewest mutations.

EvoGene™ uses a unique proprietary mutagenesis that enhances the randomness of the mutations created to give a high level of diversity, which is maintained by directly accessing the mutants using a technique referred to as ribosome display. Competitor approaches such as phage display require a transformation step that is associated with a significant loss in diversity.

The process has been validated extensively. It is not specific for antibodies and can be applied to any protein to increase its value as a therapeutic.