Background | Panitumumab, formerly ABX-EGF, is a fully human monoclonal antibody (mAb) specific to the epidermal growth factor receptor (also known as EGF receptor, EGFR, ErbB-1 and HER1 in humans). Panitumumab was originally developed by Abgenix using Abgenix's XenoMouse platform technology, in which engineered mice were utilized to produce human antibodies. This methodology is based on inactivating the mouse immunoglobulin genes that are replaced by a megabase gene containing the human heavy and κ chains. The result is the generation of fully human antibodies that do not contain murine portions of the IgG molecule as chimeric antibodies do. This property avoids the formation of human antimouse antibodies, which may result in more frequent hypersensitivity reactions and shorter half-life. |