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Technologies & platforms

We aim to drive innovation within our pipeline to deliver better solutions to patients.

Investing in the future of medicine

Developing new medicines begins with a deep understanding of the biology of the disease. Based on those insights, we aim to select the best therapeutic approach to create a treatment for that disease.

We're investing in the future of medicine by exploring new technologies and drug platforms aiming to drive innovation within our pipeline, advance programs with a higher probability of success, and deliver better treatments to patients.

Explore some of the drug platforms we are using to discover and develop innovative medicines below.

Targeted antibodies

Monoclonal antibodies

Monoclonal antibodies are immune system proteins that are created in the lab. They are designed to selectively bind to a specific target to fight a particular disease. They are called monoclonal because they originate from a single clone that can make identical copies of the same antibody in large amounts.

With extensive experience discovering and developing monoclonal antibodies, we are uncovering new insights to help inform treatments in an array of therapeutic areas, including immunology, oncology, and neurology.

Multispecific antibodies

Multispecific antibodies are antibodies that are engineered in the laboratory and can bind more than one target or site at the same time. This ability to bind to multiple targets distinguishes them from monoclonal antibodies and allows the disease to be attacked in novel ways. For example, in cancer therapy, bispecific antibodies can bring immune cells close to tumor cells to kill them.

First-generation bispecific antibodies have demonstrated efficacy in certain blood cancers, but their effect on solid tumors has been limited. We see significant promise in bispecific antibodies and are investigating a T-cell redirected bispecific platform to target both haematologic and solid tumors.

Antibody drug conjugates

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are designed to deliver a drug directly to where it is needed using the targeting of an antibody. They are comprised of monoclonal antibodies that are linked to a small molecule drug and are used in cancer to selectively kill tumor cells.

A new area being explored is the use of ADCs in immunology. We are developing a novel ADC platform for immune-mediated diseases and expanding upon this technology's scope by exploring next-generation ADCs in oncology.

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Targeted degradation

"Degradomers" are molecules that degrade proteins through the power of targeted protein degradation.

Conventional small molecules modulate the activity of a protein by binding to a specific site, but their effect is reversible. To target the cause of diseases, we are developing new molecules we call degradomers that hijack the body's natural system of protein degradation to eliminate disease-causing proteins.

AbbVie researchers are exploring how to utilize degradomers to go after disease targets that have traditionally been considered undruggable in areas such as oncology, immunology, and neurology.

Gene therapy

Gene therapy uses viral vectors to deliver genetic material to disease tissue that can modify or replace a faulty gene with a functional one or can produce therapeutic proteins directly inside the diseased tissue in the patient. 

We are working to develop next-generation gene therapies for patients in need and whose conditions could potentially benefit from this approach.

Cell therapy

Cell therapy uses living genetically modified immune cells to treat disease. The cells which are infused into the patient can either be from that patient (autologous) or a donor (allogeneic), and hopefully in the future, derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC).

One example of this approach is chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy. In CAR-T therapy, T cells (a type of immune cell) from a patient or donor are engineered to target molecules that are on the surface of cancer cells to kill them. Novel approaches investigate ways to engineer T cells in situ as well as venture into new immune cell populations, such as natural killer (NK) cells and macrophages.

We are investing in advanced gene editing and precision medicine technologies to develop next-generation autologous and allogeneic CAR-T therapies to treat solid tumors and haem malignancies.

Small molecules

Small molecules are the most traditional pharmaceuticals. They are relatively simple in structure and can be chemically synthesized. Because of their small size they can often be administered orally and can easily enter cells. Once inside cells, they can interact with target molecules like enzymes and proteins to help regulate biological processes to treat disease.

With our deep experience in small molecule chemistry, we are committed to new thinking and approaches that can make a greater impact on the treatment of disease. We are developing novel small molecule therapies across all therapeutic areas.

April 2023
UK-ABBV-230146