Reverb Therapeutics Co-Founder & CEO David de Graaf and antibody expert Jonathan Davis discuss the science of bispecifics and multispecifics and what the future holds for these modalities

They walk us through the history of bispecifics, which have been talked about since the early 2000's, and the use cases for them today. Plus, a deep dive into the science, which includes discussing your body's reaction to then, affinity & avidity, CMC, and 'bead-on-a-string' approaches that some have used lately. Finally, a discussion of what the future holds.

Chapters

Intros - 0:25

Introduction to bispecifics - 3:34

Multispecifics - 8:25

Use cases - 10:39

Your body's reaction to them - 12:59

Reverb Therapeutics - 18:36

Affinity and avidity - 21:12

Beads on a string - 24:43

CMC - 28:17

The future - 32:45

Biographies

David de Graaf is an accomplished biotechnology executive with extensive experience in leadership roles, currently serving as Co-Founder, CEO, and President of Reverb Therapeutics since September 2022, where he co-developed the Amplify•R platform that brings cytokine engagement to antibody therapeutics. Additionally, David co-founded NewCo in February 2024 and holds the position of Board Chair, while also serving as Executive Chair at Ability Biologics and Managing Partner at Inkling LLC. Prior roles include President & CEO at Abcuro, Inc., where innovative treatments for autoimmune and cancer indications were developed, and CEO at Syntimmune, which specialized in autoimmune diseases. David's academic credentials include a PhD in Mammalian Genetics from the University of Illinois Chicago and a postdoctoral degree in Genomics from the Weizmann Institute of Science, complemented by a MSc in Evolutionary Genetics from Utrecht University.

Jonathan Davis has been an antibody engineer for 25 years, most of that time focused primarily on multispecific antibodies. In his work at Merck KGaA, Bristol-Myeres Squibb, and Invenra, he and his team have designed and discovered numerous bsAbs, as well as invented three different successful bispecific platforms (2 human, 1 murine). Dr. Davis earned his Ph.D. in Biophysics from UCSF, followed by a post-doc at Harvard Medical School in the laboratory of Jack Szostak. Two years ago he left corporate employment to start his own consulting company, called Creative Antibodies, which he greatly enjoys. He is also co-founder of a therapeutic start-up company, and hosts a podcast called “Antibodies!”, produced by The Antibody Society. In addition to his scientific career, Dr. Davis is a conservatory-trained cellist and orchestra conductor, and loves to learn how to play the instruments and music from different cultures around the world.