FLC | DARPA partner reports interim trial data for COVID-19 antibody therapy

DARPA partner reports interim trial data for COVID-19 antibody therapy

September 16, 2020

AbCellera on September 16 announced encouraging interim data from a Phase 2 clinical trial of LY-CoV555, the first antibody to emerge from AbCellera’s collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) to create antibody therapies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. AbCellera’s pandemic response capabilities were developed over the past two years as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) program.

The goal of DARPA's P3 program is to establish a robust technology platform for pandemic response capable of developing field-ready medical countermeasures within 60 days of isolation of an unknown viral pathogen.

The interim findings Lilly’s randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 study (BLAZE-1) suggest a reduction in the rate of hospitalization in patients treated with the LY-CoV555 antibody. Key interim results include:

* The primary endpoint of viral load change from baseline at day 11 was met for one of three doses; consistent effects of viral reduction were seen at earlier time points.

* Rate of hospitalizations and ER visits was 1.7% for LY-CoV555 vs. 6% for placebo - a 72% risk reduction in this limited population.

* LY-CoV555 was well-tolerated across all doses, with no drug-related serious adverse events reported.

“Today’s announcement of the interim result from the BLAZE-1 trial reinforce our confidence in LY-CoV555 as a potential treatment for COVID-19,” said Carl Hansen, PhD, CEO of Vancouver, British Columbia-based AbCellera. “Our team is grateful for the tireless efforts of the many scientists and clinicians that have made it possible to achieve this milestone so quickly.”

LY-CoV555 is developed from an antibody that was identified from the blood of a recovered COVID-19 patient using AbCellera’s pandemic response platform. Within one week of receiving the sample, AbCellera screened more than 5 million antibody-producing cells to identify and isolate approximately 500 unique antibodies that bind to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Together with the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Lilly, those antibodies were tested to find the ones most effective in neutralizing the virus. LY-CoV555 was selected as the lead candidate from this group of antibodies, and is the world’s first therapeutic candidate specifically developed against SARS-CoV-2 to enter human clinical trials.