Xencor Company
Vir Biotechnology on March 25 said it intended to move “as soon as possible” both versions of its lead antibody candidate into human Phase I/II trials, after two separate labs confirmed that the antibody neutralized SARS-CoV-2. The trial is expected to start within 3–5 months.
“The candidate could have implications for not only the current pandemic, but may have utility in the future both as a vaccine, and a therapeutic should other coronaviruses emerge,” Cowen analyst Phil Nadeau wrote.
To save development time, Vir said, it transferred the lead development candidate at-risk to WuXi Biologics and Biogen, both of which joined Vir in announcing COVID-19-focused collaborations in recent weeks. Vir announced its partnership with Biogen in March, and with WuXi the previous month. The WuXi partnership is a development and manufacturing collaboration to advance and produce human monoclonal antibodies to treat COVID-19. Should the antibodies receive regulatory approvals, WuXi Biologics has rights to commercialize therapies in Greater China and Vir, in all other markets worldwide.
Vir’s novel antibodies will have extended half lives through Xencor’s Xtend™ Fc technology, to which Vir has licensed non-exclusive rights under a technology license agreement announced March 25 by Xencor.
The company added that it is continuing to search for additional antibodies from survivors of SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, and other coronaviruses.
“The candidate could have implications for not only the current pandemic, but may have utility in the future both as a vaccine, and a therapeutic should other coronaviruses emerge,” Cowen analyst Phil Nadeau wrote.
To save development time, Vir said, it transferred the lead development candidate at-risk to WuXi Biologics and Biogen, both of which joined Vir in announcing COVID-19-focused collaborations in recent weeks. Vir announced its partnership with Biogen in March, and with WuXi the previous month. The WuXi partnership is a development and manufacturing collaboration to advance and produce human monoclonal antibodies to treat COVID-19. Should the antibodies receive regulatory approvals, WuXi Biologics has rights to commercialize therapies in Greater China and Vir, in all other markets worldwide.
Vir’s novel antibodies will have extended half lives through Xencor’s Xtend™ Fc technology, to which Vir has licensed non-exclusive rights under a technology license agreement announced March 25 by Xencor.
The company added that it is continuing to search for additional antibodies from survivors of SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, and other coronaviruses.
Technology:
COVID
Industry:
Vaccine/Drug
Headquarters:
United States
Founded Date:
N/A
Employees Number:
N/A
Funding Status:
N/A
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