Candidate: IMM-BCP-01
Category: ANTIBODY
Type: Biosynthetic convalescent plasma consisting of three antibodies that bind to non-overlapping regions of the spike protein and, according to the company, have shown combinatorial activity against multiple strains of SARS-CoV-2. IMM-BCP-01 was developed through the company’s human memory B cell platform, designed to discover first-in-class antibody therapeutics.
IMM-BCP-01 is designed to bind to several SARS-CoV-2 mutations, including E484Q and L452R, which are associated with the India variant (B.1.617) in mechanistic testing.
2021 Status: Immunome said September 7 that IMM-BCP-01 had shown “potent” neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2 Lambda (C.37) and Delta AY.1/2 (Delta Plus) variants, in preclinical testing conducted by Immunome on lentiviral-based pseudovirus. Purnanand Sarma, PhD, president & CEO of Immunome, stated that IMM-BCP-01 had earlier been shown to neutralize all other current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) variants of concern in preclinical testing.
The preclinical testing has been funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense’s (JPEO-CBRND) Joint Project Manager for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Medical (JPEO-CBRN Medical), in collaboration with the Defense Health Agency (DHA).
On May 20, Immunome said it was awarded an additional $4.3 million by DOD JPEO-CBRND and DHA, to support expansion of its clinical study of IMM-BCP-01 following feedback from the FDA. The additional capital came less than a year after an initial DOD award of $13.3 million, bringing the agency’s total commitment to Immunome to $17.6 million. Immunome said at the time it was continuing efforts towards an IND filing for IMM-BCP-01 in late 2Q/early 3Q 2021.
COVID-19: 300 Candidates and Counting
To navigate through the >300 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
