Design and Pharmacokinetic Characterization of Novel Antibody Formats for Ocular Therapeutics

To design and select the next generation of ocular therapeutics, we performed a comprehensive ocular and systemic pharmacokinetic (PK) analysis of a variety of antibodies and antibody fragments, including a novel-designed bispecific antibody.

Molecules were administrated via intravitreal (IVT) or intravenous (IV) injections in rabbits, and antibody concentrations in each tissue were determined by ELISA. A novel mathematical model was developed to quantitate the structure-PK relationship.

After IVT injection, differences in vitreal half-life observed across all molecules ranged between 3.2 and 5.2 days. Modification or elimination of the fragment crystallizable (Fc) region reduced serum half-life from 9 days for the IgG to 5 days for the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) null mAb, to 3.1 to 3.4 days for the other formats. The F(ab')2 was the optimal format for ocular therapeutics with comparable vitreal half-life to full-length antibodies, but with minimized systemic exposure. Concomitantly, the consistency among mathematical model predictions and observed data validated the model for future PK predictions. In addition, we showed a novel design to develop bispecific antibodies, here with activity targeting multiple angiogenesis pathways.

We demonstrated that protein molecular weight and Fc region do not play a critical role in ocular PK, as they do systemically. Moreover, the mathematical model supports the selection of the "ideal therapeutic" by predicting ocular and systemic PK of any antibody format for any dose regimen. These findings have important implications for the design and selection of ocular therapeutics according to treatment needs, such as maximizing ocular half-life and minimizing systemic exposure.