Archon Biosciences launches to create antibody cages

Archon Biosciences has launched with $20 million to design custom antibody cages with the help of AI. The Seattle-based company spun out of the lab of the 2024 Nobel laureate David Baker at the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design (IPD).

Antibodies, which are proteins that are meant to bind to a certain target, have become a key part of modern medicine. There are antibody-based drugs approved to treat COVID-19, multiple types of cancers, and, controversially, Alzheimer’s disease. But customizing an antibody to add or change a function is difficult without changing the molecule’s core properties.

Enter antibody cages, or AbCs. According to James Lazarovits, Archon’s cofounder and CEO, assembling these proteins into cage structures allows its scientists to fine-tune the antibody’s properties without having to change the structure of the antibody itself.

For example, this technology can be used to increase an antibody’s affinity for a therapeutic target while decreasing its affinity for other biomolecules, which could increase potency and mitigate toxicity and side effects.

Lazarovits compares the approach to Volkswagen’s modular manufacturing process: the frame across its cars is the same, but the factory can attach parts that work well for carrying cargo, off-road driving, or casual use, depending on what’s necessary for the car they’re building. “That makes engineering and manufacturing easier, but you can explicitly alter and customize it for the desired application,” he says.

In the case of Archon, the customizable parts are small, computationally designed proteins that bind to antibodies, causing them to cluster and form into the cage structures.

The science behind Archon started about six and a half years ago, and Lazarovits entered the project as a postdoc in Baker’s lab.

The team published a proof-of-concept study in 2021, and Lazarovits, Baker, and fellow IPD researcher George Ueda worked to translate the discovery into a new company (Science 2021, DOI: 10.1126/science.abd9994).

Madrona Ventures led the seed fundraising round, and Lazarovits says Archon has funding runway for “the next couple years.” He won’t disclose specific information about the firm’s lead program but says Archon is currently developing cages for “well-known targets.” While the start-up can develop new antibodies, Lazarovits says it is working on cages made from “off the shelf” antibodies. “You have to walk before you can run,” he says.