Patent ID: 8129505

Claim:
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.