Asimov partners with Ottimo Pharma on cell line development for dual antibody
Asimov, a synthetic biology company based in Boston, announced a cell line development partnership with Ottimo Pharma, a biopharmaceutical company developing dual pathway antibodies for cancer treatment. The collaboration focuses on Ottimo’s lead program, OTP-01, a PD1/VEGFR2 dual pathway antibody, according to the companies.
Asimov said it delivered a high-titer, stable Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line ahead of schedule to support Ottimo’s planned investigational new drug (IND) submission. The program reportedly was built on Asimov’s CHO Edge system, which uses data-driven models for molecule-specific expression optimization.
Ottimo said the partnership enabled quality attributes and expression levels needed for OTP-01.
“Asimov has been an exceptional partner throughout this process, not only delivering a high-performance cell line for a novel therapeutic architecture on an accelerated timeline, but also supporting tech-transfer into GMP manufacturing,” Spencer Fisk, chief technical and quality officer at Ottimo Pharma, said in a statement.
In late April, Asimov announced a partnership with Cytiva to offer integrated cell line development and cell culture services for protein biologics. The collaboration combines Asimov’s CHO Edge platform with Cytiva’s HyClone media and Fast Trak process development services to streamline biologics production from cell line creation through GMP manufacturing. The companies said the joint service is designed to improve titers, address inefficiencies in process development, and accelerate timelines for complex biologics.
In June, Ottimo signed a contract manufacturing agreement with Lotte Biologics to produce antibody drug substance for its cancer therapy Jankistomig, another PD1/VEGFR2 dual pathway antibody. The agreement, finalized during the BIO International Convention in Boston, will leverage Lotte’s biomanufacturing site in Syracuse, New York to advance the therapy toward IND submission and clinical readiness, the companies said.
Asimov noted that a separate customer also recently advanced a bispecific antibody program to IND clearance using the CHO Edge system, demonstrating the platform’s ability to support complex biologics development.