Genmab antibodies showing promise say analysts; profitable by 2006?

Analysts at Commerzbank have recently initiated coverage of Denmark'sGenmab with a buy rating and a favorable report on the company's progress on developing antibodies, which the study describes as potential "magic bullets" for the treatment and prevention of a variety of diseases.

Nevertheless, it is only in the past couple of years that the potential of antibodies has begun to be widely recognized as a result of the success of products such as IDEC/Genentech's Rituxan (rituximab), the latter's Herceptin (trastuzumab) and Centocor/Eli Lilly's ReoPro (abciximab). The first antibodies were mouse-derived only, say the analysts, and it was soon discovered that, on repeat administration, their efficacy was markedly reduced and, in some extreme cases, patients experienced severe hypersensitivity reactions.

Put in a nutshell, patients' immune systems were recognizing the mouse-derived antibodies as foreign and were rejecting them from the circulation, so subsequent antibodies have been developed with reduced levels of mouse protein and replaced with human antibody material. These come in the form of chimeric (40% mouse protein) and humanized antibodies (some 10%).