Candidate: COVID-19 immunotherapy

Category: ANTIBODY

Type: SARS-CoV-2-specific virus-neutralizing antibody, to be selected.

Status: Memo said June 4 that it had identified “several” SARS-CoV-2-specific virus-neutralizing antibodies with the potential for development as a COVID-19 immunotherapy. The “ultra-rare” antibodies showed superior virus-neutralizing activity within just six weeks of enrollment of the first of hundreds of Swiss COVID-19 patients—with the most promising donors being those who demonstrated a clinical course of COVID-19 indicative of a particularly potent antibody response, Memo said.

Blood samples were collected from the clinically selected donors and used with Memo’s microfluidic DROPZYLLA® discovery platform to identify SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies. DROPZYLLA enables the generation of complete recombinant human antibody repertoires, preserving all specificities present in each of the patient’s B cells, according to the company.

The most potent of the antibodies studied will undergo clinical development as a passive immunotherapy for COVID-19, with a clinical proof-of-concept study anticipated for the fourth quarter, Memo added.


COVID-19: 200 Candidates and Counting

To navigate through the >200 potential therapeutic and vaccine options for COVID-19, GEN has grouped the candidates into four broad categories based on their developmental and (where applicable) clinical progress:

FRONT RUNNER – the most promising therapeutics/vaccines based on clinical progress, favorable data or both.

DEFINITELY MAYBE – earlier phases with promising partners, or more advanced candidates in development that have generated uneven data.

KEEPING AN EYE ON… – interesting technology, attracting notable partners, or both, but preliminary data.

TOO SOON TO TELL – longshots pending additional experimental and/or clinical data.

GEN has also tagged the most common treatment types:

● ANTIVIRAL
● VAX
● ANTIBODY
● RNA

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