Candidate: T-VIVA-19 (targeted virus vaccine against COVID-19)
Category: VAX
Type: Recombinant fusion protein of the spike protein S1-domain and the Fc portion of the human IgG1 antibody (rS1-Fc).
Status: Sorrento said July 1 that it published a preprint study in bioRxiv reporting initial preclinical results showing that immunization with T-VIVA-19 via injection into either the vein or the thigh muscle of a mouse induced antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 protein in all mice within the first week of administration.
Antibodies were seen to be enhanced when the mice were given a booster shot three weeks later, by the same route as the initial injection. Approximately 80% of the mice’s sera possessed neutralizing antibodies and completely prevented virus infection in in vitro cell cultures using 100 TCID50 viruses and VERO cells.
Sorrento chairman and CEO Henry Ji, PhD, stated that if T-VIVA-19 were approved for patients, the company would produce the vaccine in its therapeutic antibody cGMP production facility in San Diego: “Due to the potentially low dose administration of T-VIVA-19, which may be one milligram per person or less, we believe our existing cGMP manufacturing facility is capable of producing bulk drug substance rS1-Fc for up to 100 million doses a month.”
Sorrento added that it plans to pursue clinical trial clearance for T-VIVA-19, while preparing for large scale manufacturing and commercial distribution in parallel.
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
