europabio-logoeuropabio-logoeuropabio-logoeuropabio-logo
  • About us
    • Who we are
      • Governance
      • Staff
      • Vacancies
    • What we do
  • Members
    • EuropaBio Members
    • About Membership
  • How we work
    • Healthcare Biotechnology Council
      • Cell & Gene Therapies
      • Medicines For Rare Diseases And Children
      • Regulatory Efficiency
      • Biosimilars & Public Procurement
      • Data & Digital
      • Patient Bio-Forum
    • Industrial Biotechnology Council
      • Food, Feed & Nutrition
      • Circular Bioeconomy
    • National Associations Council
    • SME Platform
    • Biomanufacturing Platform
  • Activities
    • 25 Years of Innovation
    • EFIB 2022
    • European Biotech Week
  • Events
  • Newsroom
    • News & Publications
    • Newsletter
    • Library
Become a member
✕

2013: First approved cancer treatment using antibody glycosylation (glycoMAb) – Gazyvaro

16/06/2021

Nominated by: Swiss Biotech Association 

Organisations in nomination: Glycart Biotechnology (now Roche Glycart AG)

Pioneer in antibody glycosylation (glycoMAb) technology increasing immune-mediated killing of cancer cells leading to improved cancer medicines.

Antibodies are proteins that are part of the immune system that identify and neutralise foreign invaders in the body. During their production in cells, they undergo post-translational modification in creating the final antibody structure, commonly including the addition of glycans, known as antibody glycosylation.  These glycans play a significant role in antibody function and this can be used in the development of treatments that make use of the body’s own immune system.

Glycart Biotechnology, a Swiss biotechnology company and spin-off of ETH Zurich, developed glycoMAb, a technology which genetically engineers the antibody-producing cells with a gene encoding an oligosaccharide-modifying enzyme. The modified cells produce new molecular variants of the antibody, bearing bisected non-fucosylated oligosaccharides.  This was an advance over standard production cell lines, which do not make these special oligosaccharides.

The company successfully engineered antibody glycosylation to increase immune-mediated cancer cell killing, creating a potential cancer therapy.  After the company became part of Roche in 2005, the first drug using this technology was developed (obinutuzumab – Gazyva – Gazyvaro) to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), approved in 2013.   CLL is a cancer of B-lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell and is classed as a rare disease.  Following its approval for CLL, it later gained approval for relapsed/refractory and first line follicular non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

References:

  • About Gazyvaro
  • About Glycart 
Share
Alexandra Simionca
Alexandra Simionca
EuropaBio-Logo-White

EuropaBio represents corporate and associate members across sectors, plus national and regional biotechnology associations which, in turn, represent over 2600 biotech companies, 2300 out of them are SMEs.

Contact us

Extra links

Members
Staff
Privacy policy
Legal & cookies
Events
Newsroom

Become a member

Media pack

© 2023 Europabio. All Rights Reserved. Designed by EYAS
Become a member
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkLegal & Cookies