GigaGen Inc., a biotechnology company advancing transformative antibody drugs for immune deficiencies, infectious diseases and checkpoint resistant cancers, and a subsidiary of Grifols, announced today it has entered into a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) to demonstrate the utility of its first-in-class recombinant human polyclonal antibody discovery platform against biological threats of interest to the DOD.

Read the full press release.

GigaGen Inc., a biotechnology company advancing transformative antibody drugs for immune deficiencies, infectious diseases and checkpoint resistant cancers, and a subsidiary of Grifols, announced today the publication of a research article titled, “GMP manufacturing and IND-enabling studies of a recombinant hyperimmune globulin targeting SARS-CoV-2,” in the international, peer-reviewed journal Pathogens. This work showcases for the first time the GMP (good manufacturing practice) manufacturing and IND (Investigational New Drug)-enabling studies of its new class of drugs, recombinant polyclonal antibodies, describing the company’s recombinant polyclonal product that targets SARS-CoV-2, GIGA-2050.

GIGA-2050 is comprised of more than 12,000 antibodies but produced from a single master cell bank (MCB). Prior to GIGA-2050, manufacturing methods for much smaller mixtures of recombinant antibodies often involved the creation of separate MCBs for each monoclonal antibody, followed by mixing the MCBs prior to manufacturing. GIGA-2050 material produced at scales ranging from 3L to 250L had high product quality and consistent yield and potency. Through in vivo studies, GIGA-2050 was shown to be safe and protective against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Read the full press release.

GigaGen Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing novel antibody therapies, today announced that David Johnson, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer, will present on the discovery of unique and functional antibodies utilizing Surge technology at the 14th Annual PEGS Summit. Dr. Johnson’s invited podium presentation is titled “Discovery of High-Affinity Human PD-1 and LAG-3 Antibodies Using Novel Microfluidic and Molecular Genomic Methods” and will take place during the Engineering Antibodies conference at 11:25 a.m. EDT on May 2, 2018, at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston, Mass.

 

Read the full press release.

GigaGen Inc., the leading innovator in massively high-throughput immune repertoire single-cell sequencing and protein expression, today announced that it has been awarded a $1.5 million Phase II grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Phase II grant was awarded through the NIH Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program in from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The grant supports development of natural repertoire recombinant intravenous immunoglobulin (rIVIG) “hyperimmunes” against common pathogens for patients with primary immune deficiency (PID).

Read the full press release.

BARCELONA, Spain, March 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Grifols (MCE: GRF, MCE: GRF.P;NASDAQ: GRFS), a global healthcare company with a proven track record of more than 100 years dedicated to improving the health and well-being of people worldwide, today announced the closing of its agreement with GigaGen Inc. to acquire its remaining 56% share capital for USD 80 million.

GigaGen is a U.S. biotechnology company specialized in the early discovery and development of recombinant biotherapeutic medicines. GigaGen’s research focuses on discovering new biological treatments based on antibodies derived from millions of immune system cells obtained from donors.

Read the full press release.

 

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 23, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GigaGen, a biotechnology company advancing transformative antibody drugs for immune deficiency, infectious diseases, transplant rejection and checkpoint resistant cancers, and a subsidiary of Grifols, announced today that it will present an abstract in a poster session at the 2021 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Annual Meeting, which is being held on April 10-15 and May 17-21.

Read the full press release.

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, May 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GigaGen Inc., a biotechnology company advancing transformative antibody drugs for infectious diseases, transplant rejection and checkpoint resistant cancers, and a subsidiary of Grifols, announced today publication of research, titled, “Single cell transcriptomics reveals the effect of PD-L1/TGF-β blockade on the tumor microenvironment,” in the peer-reviewed journal BMC Biology. The preclinical data describes potential new avenues to overcome resistance to anti-PD-L1 therapies.

Read the full press release.

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., July 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GigaGen Inc., a biotechnology company advancing transformative antibody drugs for infectious diseases, transplant rejection and checkpoint resistant cancers, and a subsidiary of Grifols, announced today publication of research in bioRxiv entitled, “Lack of blocking activity in anti-CTLA-4 antibodies reduces toxicity, but not anti-tumor efficacy.” The publication describes the novel mechanism of action of its anti-CTLA-4 drug candidate, GIGA-564, selected due to its reduced checkpoint inhibition, which resulted in superior anti-tumor activity and lower toxicity in murine models compared to commercially available anti-CTLA-4 drugs.

Read the full press release.

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Aug. 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GigaGen Inc., a biotechnology company advancing transformative antibody drugs for infectious diseases, transplant rejection and checkpoint resistant cancers, and a subsidiary of Grifols, announced today the first patient has been dosed in its Phase 1 clinical trial of GIGA-2050, the company’s recombinant hyperimmune polyclonal antibody drug designed to provide passive immunity to COVID-19 patients.

GIGA-2050 is comprised of more than 12,000 antibodies demonstrating strong neutralizing activity against natural SARS CoV-2 variants in laboratory studies, including the delta variant and other variants that have emerged globally since the beginning of the pandemic. GIGA-2050 encompasses the full diversity of anti-coronavirus antibodies captured from the convalescent serum of 16 exceptional responders to COVID-19.

Read the full press release.