The present invention provides a process for producing a comb polymer comprising the steps of: a) providing: (i) (w+z) molar equivalents of a monomer; (ii) one molar equivalent of an initiator compound of formula (IX), wherein B 3 represents a halogen, B 2 represents H or a halogen, Y 1 represents a group capable of attaching the residue of an antibody or fragment thereof or capable of being converted into such a group, L represents a linker group, y is 1, 2 or 3, w is at least 1 and z is 0 or greater; (iii) a catalyst capable of catalysing the polymerization of a plurality of the monomers to produce the comb polymer; and b) causing the catalyst to catalyse, in combination with the initiator, the polymerization of a plurality of the monomers (i) to produce the comb polymer.
1. The antibody-comb polymer conjugate produced by a process for producing a comb polymer comprising:
a) providing:
(i) (w+z) molar equivalents of a monomer, said monomer comprising an olefin unsaturation and an ester or amide linkage site;
(ii) one molar equivalent of an initiator compound of formula (IX)
wherein B 3 is a halogen, B 2 represents H or a halogen, Y 1 is a group capable of attaching the residue of an antibody or fragment thereof or capable of being converted into such a group, L is a linker group, y is 1, 2 or 3, w is at least 1, and z is 0 or greater;
(iii) a catalyst capable of catalyzing the polymerization of the monomer to produce the comb polymer; and
b) causing the catalyst to catalyze, in combination with the initiator, the polymerization of the monomer (i) to produce the comb polymer having a polymer backbone, said polymer backbone being bound to a molecule of said initiator at B 3 ;
c) attaching at least one antibody or fragment thereof to at least one Y 1 ; and
d) reacting the comb polymer produced in step b) with w equivalents of one or more effector molecules and z equivalents of one or more water solubilising moieties, wherein w is at least 1 and z is 0 or greater, and wherein said effector molecules are selected from one or more of the groups consisting of nucleic acids, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, polypeptides, peptides, peptidomimetics, small molecules, cytotoxins, cytotoxic agents, antimetabolites, chelated radionuclides, enzymes, fluorescent materials, luminescent materials, bioluminescent materials, radioactive nuclides, positron emitting metals, nonradioactive paramagnetic metal ions, streptavidin, avidin, biotin, and straight or branched chain polyalkylene, polyalkenylene, or polyoxyalkylene polymers,
wherein step d) can occur either before or after step c), and wherein Y 1 does not react with said monomer ester or amide linkage site.
2. An antibody-comb polymer conjugate having the formula (Ia) or (Ib):
wherein:
B 1 is a halogen;
B 2 is H or a halogen;
L is a linker group
y is 1, 2 or 3;
m is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10;
A is an antibody or fragment thereof;
Y is a spacer group; and
X is a comb polymer moiety comprising a plurality of linkage sites, to which at least some of said linkage sites are attached w equivalents of one or more effector molecules with an optional linker group between said linkage site and said effector molecule, and z equivalents of one or more water solubilising moieties, wherein w is at least 1 and z is 0 or greater, and wherein said effector molecules are selected from one or more of the groups consisting of nucleic acids, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, polypeptides, peptides, peptidomimetics, small molecules, cytotoxins, cytotoxic agents, antimetabolites, chelated radionuclides, enzymes, fluorescent materials, luminescent materials, bioluminescent materials, radioactive nuclides, positron emitting metals, nonradioactive paramagnetic metal ions, streptavidin, avidin, biotin, and straight or branched chain polyalkylene, polyalkenylene, or polyoxyalkylene polymers; and
wherein Y is not reactive with said monomer linkage sites.
3. The antibody-comb polymer conjugate according to claim 2 , wherein X comprises the components of formula III and IV in any order
wherein:
w is at least 1 and z is 0 or greater;
T is absent or a linker group
W is an effector molecule;
Z is a water solubilising moiety;
M is NH or O; and
R 1 is methyl or H.
4. A pharmaceutical composition comprising an antibody-comb polymer conjugate according to claim 2 in association with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers, excipients or diluents.
5. The antibody-comb polymer conjugate according to claim 2 , wherein B 2 is H.
6. The antibody-comb polymer conjugate according to claim 2 , wherein L is: —(CH 2 ) n — wherein n is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6; or
7. The antibody-comb polymer conjugate according to claim 2 , wherein Y is succinimide.
8. The antibody-comb polymer conjugate according to claim 3 , wherein T is a linker of formula (V):
wherein T 1 represents [CH 2 ] t or CH 2 CH 2 [OCH 2 CH 2 ] n where t is between 1 and 10 and n is between 5 and 100.
9. The antibody-comb polymer conjugate according to claim 3 , wherein Z is selected from:
10. An antibody-comb polymer conjugate according to claim 2 :