Candidate: TAK-888

Category: RNA

Type: Anti-SARS-CoV-2 polyclonal hyperimmune globulin (H-IG) a plasma derived-therapy designed to treat high-risk individuals with COVID-19.

Status: Takeda said March 4 it began development of TAK-888, part of the H-IG class of treatments that have previously shown effectiveness in treating severe acute viral respiratory infections. Such therapies are designed to concentrate pathogen-specific antibodies from plasma collected from recovered patients or vaccinated donors in the future.

Takeda said it had begun talks with health and regulatory agencies and healthcare partners in the U.S., Asia, and Europe to quickly advance its research into TAK-888. Those talks will include how to access plasma from people who have successfully recovered from COVID-19, or who have been vaccinated once a vaccine is developed, since these donors would have developed antibodies to the virus that could potentially prevent illness in COVID-19 patients, or at least mitigate its severity.

Takeda said it will initially produce the therapy in a segregated area within its manufacturing facility in Georgia, since the plasma needed for TAK-888 is unlikely to come from current plasma donors.


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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