IONTAS Celebrates 5 years of Antibody Discovery

IONTAS Limited (IONTAS), a leader in the discovery and optimisation of fully human antibodies, is celebrating its fifth anniversary.

The Company was founded, without external investment, in 2013, by Dr John McCafferty, now CEO at IONTAS, in his laboratories within the biochemistry department of the University of Cambridge. Dr McCafferty discovered antibody phage display and was also one of the founders of Cambridge Antibody Technology. Since then, the company has grown from four scientists focussing on antibody phage display, to 29 employees covering phage display and next generation antibody discovery platforms, such as its newest technology platform mammalian display, which aims to make the discovery process more efficient.

The mammalian display platform allows for the discovery of antibodies that are amenable to manufacturing, thereby reducing development times and enabling therapeutics to be in the hands of doctors in a timelier manner. This ultimately will also reduce development risk and costs, and finally the price of antibody therapeutics to organisations such as the NHS. Further to this, IONTAS is now advancing technologies that will have the potential to reach targets previously considered “undruggable”, with antibodies. The Company’s KnotBody platform is initiating studies that may have potential in the treatment of chronic pain, stroke and autoimmunity.

“IONTAS has generated profit from the start, much of which has been reinvested in the Company to establish a strong commercial presence, and to fund innovative research programs to discovery antibodies that address key gaps in the antibody drug discovery process. We believe our success can be attributed to our scientific ethos of quality service and insightful research, as well as strong project leadership in external programs, without compromising investment in ground-breaking research and developments,” said Dr John McCafferty, CEO at IONTAS: “It has been an exciting five years, and we now look forward to further expanding the service capability we can offer and discovering new and disruptive technologies that will enhance and optimise antibody drug discovery with the aim of generating medicines that will benefit all.”