AbbVie, Harbour BioMed, Utrecht University and Erasmus Medical Center partner on COVID-19 therapeutic

A coalition of AbbVie, Harbour BioMed (HBM), Utrecht University (UU), and Erasmus Medical Center (EMC) have joined together to create a monoclonal antibody therapy that could hold the key to preventing and treating COVID-19, through its viral cause: SARS-CoV-2.

The therapeutic is based on a neutralizing antibody previously discovered by HBM, EMC, and UU. In cell culture studies, the antibody blocked SARS-CoV-2 infections along with those of a second SARS-CoV virus.

Now, the three partners will be backed by AbbVie, which will support preclinical activities and prepare for later stage preclinical and clinical development work. If the antibody — which is meant to target the conserved domain of SAR-CoV-2’s spike protein — works, AbbVie will gain the right to exclusively license the antibody for clinical development and commercialization worldwide.

“The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has highlighted the importance of understanding coronavirus biology,” Dr. Berend-Jan Bosch, associate professor and research leader at UU, said. “The collaboration with AbbVie provides an excellent opportunity to translate our research into a clinical candidate with great potential for advancing the fight against this disease.”

Dr. Frank Grosveld, academy professor of cell biology at EMC and founding chief scientific officer at Harbour Biomed, added that the collaboration would allow the partners to move rapidly to clinical trials. Efforts are already moving quickly, though — the antibody discovery was just published in May.

“Treatment and prevention of COVID-19 remains a critical global need,” Dr. Tom Hudson, senior vice president of Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer of AbbVie, said. “The antibody discovered by UU, EMC, and Harbour BioMed is extremely promising based on the mechanism by which it targets the virus and on its developability as a fully human protein. We look forward to working with this outstanding team to advance this antibody towards clinical trials.”