Cambridge Antibody Technology – affectionately known as CAT – was the architect of the cluster’s first blockbuster drug and had become a ‘must buy’ business by the time it was acquired by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca for £702 million in 2006.
CAT’s core focus was on antibody therapeutics, primarily using phage display and ribosome display technology, and its IP was used to create adalimumab, the first fully human antibody blockbuster drug. Humira, the brand name of adalimumab, is an anti-TNF antibody discovered by CAT as D2E7, then developed in the clinic and marketed by Abbott Laboratories.
