What are the advantages of recombinant antibodies?

Recombinant antibodies offer several advantages over antibodies produced by other methods. Advantages include: 

• Highest level of batch-to-batch consistency and increased reproducibility– The production process is controlled using a unique set of genes, which gives researchers more control over the antigen. This results in antibodies with higher consistency between batches, which makes it possible to achieve highly reproducible results. This is unlike hybridoma-based systems where there is no control over the antigen once it is injected into the host animal. 
• Higher affinity and improved sensitivity – Recombinant antibodies have a high affinity to antigens. This allows them to bind strongly to the antigen and to maintain this bond even under adverse conditions. The higher affinity and stronger, more reliable bonding allows greater sensitivity in assays.  
• Easier scalability and continuous supply – Recombinant antibody production involves cloning antibody genes into expression vectors. This allows antibody expression to be carried out at any scale, which also ensures continuous supply for projects of all sizes. It also allows the same antibody to be used across multiple samples. 
• Decreased production time – Antigen-specific antibodies can be generated in as little as 8 weeks using recombinant technology, compared to the 4 months required to produce suitable antibodies using hybridoma technology. 
• Easier to switch antibodies into a more preferable format – Converting a desirable recombinant antibody fragment into a different isotype, subtype, or species can be easily achieved by adding the appropriate constant domain. 
• No ethical or animal welfare concerns – The recombinant production process uses animal-free technology, which eliminates the many animal welfare and ethical concerns that arise with conventional monoclonal antibody production.