Anti-COVID-19 biological drugs for prevention and treatment

The rapid and uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 across the globe exposed a lack of effective preventative or therapeutic interventions. We have created a set of biological medicines that completely inhibit the COVID-19 virus. We are now enhancing these first-generation drugs, applying discoveries from our cancer and inflammation research to direct the immune system to kill the virus and infected cells.

Objective

We are developing novel biological medicines called ACE2-Fc which can neutralise all SARS-CoV-2 variants and will protect against many future coronavirus pandemics.

ACE2-Fc have been created from two naturally occurring but separate components. The first component is the human receptor for the virus called ACE2. The second component is a part of antibodies, called the Fc, that normally activates the immune system.

By combining these two functions into one biological agent we can both prevent and treat COVID-19, via a “two-pronged” attack:

1. the ACE2 component protects healthy people by neutralising the virus and preventing it from entering cells where it would otherwise establish infection
2. the Fc component treats the infection by harnessing the immune system to kill the virus in infected people.

Our collaborators at the Doherty are using antibodies isolated from people recovering from COVID-19 to create mAbs.

These mAbs can act in a similar way to the ACE2-Fc fusion protein, neutralising the virus and activating the immune system. 

Approach

We are applying our pioneering Stellabody® discoveries from anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory biological medicines to make our COVID-19 biological drugs up to 100 times more powerful. These biological drugs neutralise the virus to prevent infection and stimulate the immune system to destroy the virus and the cells infected by it.

Community impact

By having universal antiviral therapy like our ACE2-Fc, the spread of future coronavirus-related diseases can be prevented, protecting vulnerable individuals, health systems and the global economy.