Ultra-Rare, Highly Potent SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibodies Identified for Development as COVID-19 Immunotherapy

Memo Therapeutics AG {(MTx) Schlieren, Switzerland} has identified several SARS-CoV-2-specific virus-neutralizing antibodies with the potential for development as a COVID-19 immunotherapy.

Since March, MTx, an innovator in the field of antibody discovery and immune repertoire analysis, has selected the most promising donors from hundreds of Swiss COVID-19 patients. The selection criteria identified patients who had demonstrated a clinical course of COVID-19 indicative of a particularly potent antibody response.

Blood samples were collected from the clinically selected donors and used with MTx’s microfluidic DROPZYLLA discovery platform to identify SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies. DROPZYLLA enables the generation of complete recombinant human antibody repertoires, preserving all specificities present in each of the patient’s B cells. By processing more than two million memory B cells from the COVID-19 donors, MTx was able to identify ultra-rare antibodies with superior virus-neutralizing activity within just six weeks of first patient enrollment. The most potent of these antibodies will now undergo clinical development as a passive immunotherapy for COVID-19, with a clinical proof-of-concept anticipated for Q4 this year.

“The identification of SARS-CoV-2-neturalizing antibodies could be a game changer in how we tackle the global COVID-19 pandemic. The discovery process and ongoing clinical development may also provide key insights into how we can combat new mutants and viral outbreaks in the future, as well as other existing viral diseases,” said Dr. Karsten Fischer, CEO of Memo Therapeutics.

“We are very excited by the opportunity to contribute to the global efforts against COVID-19. We are also extremely pleased to see that our DROPZYLLA antibody discovery platform and the established workflow appear to be perfectly suited for a rapid pandemic response, and we believe that patient-derived antibodies are the most straightforward, safe and reliable therapeutic option in such a situation,” said Dr. Christoph Esslinger, CSO of Memo Therapeutics.


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