Pharmaceutical composition comprising a bispecific antibody for EpCAM

1. A bispecific single chain antibody construct, whereby said construct comprises at least two domains, whereby one of said domains binds to human EpCAM antigen and a second domain binds to human CD3 antigen, wherein said binding domain specific for EpCAM comprises at least one CDR-H3 region comprising the amino acid sequence NXD preferably in position 102 to 104 of SEQ ID NOs: 80, 88 and 96, or preferably in position 106 to 108 of SEQ ID NOS: 84 and 92, wherein X is an aromatic amino acid and

wherein the V H chain domain specific for human EpCAM antigen is selected from the group consisting of:

(a) an amino acid sequence as shown in any of SEQ ID NO: 80, SEQ ID NO: 84,

SEQ ID NO: 88, SEQ ID NO: 92 and SEQ ID NO: 96;

(b) an amino acid sequence encoded by a nucleic acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 79, SEQ ID NO: 83, SEQ ID NO: 87, SEQ ID NO: 91 and SEQ ID NO: 95; and

(c) an amino acid sequence encoded by a nucleic acid sequence which is degenerate as a result of the genetic code to a nucleotide sequence of (b); and

wherein the V L chain domain specific for human EpCAM antigen is selected from the group consisting of:

(a) an amino acid sequence as shown in any of SEQ ID NO: 82, SEQ ID NO: 86, SEQ ID NO: 90, SEQ ID NO: 94 and SEQ ID NO: 98;

(b) an amino acid sequence encoded by a nucleic acid sequence as shown in SEQ ID NO: 81, SEQ ID NO: 85, SEQ ID NO: 89, SEQ ID NO: 93 and SEQ ID NO: 97; and

(c) an amino acid sequence encoded by a nucleic acid sequence which is degenerate as a result of the genetic code to a nucleotide sequence of (b).

2. The bispecific single chain antibody construct of claim 1 , wherein X is W or Y.

3. The bispecific single chain antibody construct of claim 1 , wherein the CDR-H3 comprises at least 9 amino acid residues.

4. The bispecific single chain antibody construct of claim 1 , wherein said binding domain specific for EpCAM has a KD value of more than 5×10 −9 M.

5. The bispecific single chain antibody construct of claim 1 , wherein said binding domain specific for EpCAM has a KD value in a range between I×10 −7 and 5×10 −9 M and said binding domain specific for CD3 has a KD value in a range between 1×10 −6 and 5×10−9 M.

6. The bispecific single chain antibody construct of claim 1 , wherein said binding domain specific for CD3 has a KD value of more than 10 −7 M.

7. The bispecific single chain antibody construct of claim 1 , wherein the CDR-H3 region comprises at least 14 amino acids.

8. The bispecific single chain antibody construct of claim 1 , wherein the binding domain specific for the CD3 antigen is derived from the OKT3D antibody.

9. The bispecific single chain antibody construct of claim 1 , wherein said bispecific single chain antibody construct comprises an amino add sequence selected from the group consisting of

(a) an amino acid sequence as shown in any of SEQ ID NOs: 2,4, 8,10, 12,14, 16,18, 20,30, 36, 39, 42, 46, 48, 50,52, 54,56, 58 and 60:

(b) an amino acid sequence encoded by a nucleic acid sequence as shown in any of SEQ ID NOs: 1,3, 7,9, 11,13, 15,17, 19,29, 35, 38,41, 43, 45, 47,49, 51,53, 55,57 and 59; and

(c) an amino acid sequence encoded by a nucleic acid sequence which is degenerate as a result of the genetic code to a nucleotide sequence of (b).

10. A pharmaceutical composition comprising the bispecific single chain antibody construct of claim 1 .

11. A pharmaceutical composition of claim 10 , further comprising a proteinaceous compound capable of providing an activation signal for immune effector cells.

12. The pharmaceutical composition of claim 11 , wherein the pharmaceutical composition is thermostable at 237° C.

13. A kit comprising a bispecific single chain antibody construct of claim 1 .