Chugai, one of Japan’s leading research-based pharmaceutical companies with strengths in biotechnology products, integrated the advanced ISPRI toolkit into their preclinical assessment pipeline after an extended head-to-head comparison with other in silico tools in September 2013. This 3-year extension will continue the companies’ business relationship into 2022, marking 9 years of ISPRI use, a strong testament to the accuracy and utility of the EpiVax immuno-informatics tools.
ISPRI contains several specialized algorithms that assist in assessing immunogenic potential and reducing the likelihood of adverse effects of drug candidates, improving the chance of successful development. ISPRI enables comparisons between novel biologics and a range of natural human proteins and takes into consideration of the impact of Tregitopes (T regulatory epitopes) on immunogenic potential. Tregitopes, discovered by EpiVax, are natural immune system ‘off switches’ whose function is to reduce immunogenicity to hypervariable proteins. Chugai is one of 12 large pharma companies that currently license the tools for screening biologics prior to clinical development.