Immunoprecise Antibodies (IPA) announced the identification of numerous lead candidate antibodies with highly-potent neutralizing activity in vitro, which are being manufactured for further testing and possible inclusion in the Company's PolyTope™ mAb Therapy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
On March 12th, 2020, ImmunoPrecise announced several preclinical programs currently being undertaken to assist in the efforts against SARS-CoV-2. Today's announcement updates the Company's progress on the development of a PolyTope™ mAb therapy designed to treat severely ill patients, as well as protect high-risk individuals such as those exposed to the virus, front-line workers, the elderly, and the immunocompromised.
ImmunoPrecise deployed several proprietary discovery platforms that leveraged the immune systems of humans, llama, rabbits and Ligand Pharmaceutical's OmniAbÒ genetically engineered rats producing human antibodies. The neutralizing antibodies announced are the result of functional screenings from the top 300 lead antibodies analyzed from the human and llama campaigns. The Company has stated that functional analysis of the remaining 1,300 lead antibodies from the rabbit and OmniAbÒ rat campaigns were performed independently, and they anticipate the release of the preliminary functional data screens from these additional programs in the near future.
"Arriving at this critical point in our preliminary research with many lead, functional therapeutic candidates is indicative of the broad scientific scope of IPA's anti-COVID-19 programs," said Dr. Jennifer Bath, CEO and President of IPA. "An effective cocktail therapy for COVID-19, targeting multiple epitopes on the virus, could prove fundamental in combating this pandemic in an effective and enduring way."
The Company's scientific approach has led to a diverse set of lead antibody candidates, and thus far has generated many potently neutralizing antibodies to multiple epitopes, supporting the Company's aim of generating a therapeutic that retains efficacy, even as SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve.
The Company anticipates pre-clinical studies will begin summer 2020.