NovAb

NovAb, Inc. is a Tucker, Georgia biotechnology company developing a novel class of antibody biotherapeutics based on Variable Lymphocyte Receptors (VLRs), the antigen receptors of jawless fish such as lampreys and hagfish. Because VLRs use leucine-rich repeats rather than the immunoglobulin fold, they are small single-polypeptide antibodies with rigid beta-sheet binding sites that recognize targets conventional monoclonal antibodies cannot, notably glycan epitopes and closely related carbohydrate structures. Its lead program is a monoclonal VLR antibody against a plasma-cell-restricted cell surface target, intended for multiple myeloma, autoimmune disease and transplant rejection. The company also engineers multispecific antibodies, antibody polymers, and multimeric ligand constructs for targeted delivery, and was co-founded with Emory immunologist Max D. Cooper, M.D.

VLR antibodies from the jawless-fish immune system give access to glycan and carbohydrate targets that conventional immunoglobulin-based monoclonals cannot reliably discriminate, in a small, rigid single-polypeptide scaffold.