Therapeutic Designed to Attack SARS-CoV-2 Launches Study

A potential antibody treatment designed to fight COVID-19 disease has been launched by an Indianapolis based pharmaceutical company.

Eli Lilly announced patients have been dosed with the investigational medicine, referred to as LY-CoV555, at major medical centers in the U.S., including NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.

LY-CoV555 is the first potential new medicine specifically designed to attack SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

LY-CoV555 is a potent, neutralizing IgG1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) directed against the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

It is designed to block viral attachment and entry into human cells, thus neutralizing the virus, potentially preventing and treating COVID-19.

Lilly scientists rapidly developed the antibody in just 3-months after AbCellera and the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) identified it from a blood sample taken from one of the first U.S. patients who recovered from COVID-19.

Lilly stated in a press statement on June 1, 2020, that it intends to test this first antibody as well as other neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 over the next several months. 

And, Lilly intends to test both single antibody therapy as well as combinations of Lilly antibodies (sometimes known as antibody cocktails) as potential therapeutics for COVID-19 disease.

Should the LY-CoV555 Phase 1 study’s results show the antibody can be safely administered, Lilly expects to move into the next phase of testing, studying LY-CoV555 in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients. 

The company also plans to study the drug in a preventative setting, focusing on vulnerable patient populations who historically are not optimal candidates for vaccines.

Mark J. Mulligan, MD, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology and director of the Vaccine Center at NYU Langone Health commented: "Antibody treatments like the one being studied here hold promise to be effective medical countermeasures against this deadly infection.”

Eli Lilly and Company is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with discovery to create medicines that make life better for people around the world. 

Precision Vaccinations publishes coronavirus therapy development news.