Invivyd Announces COVID-19 Antibody Candidates
- Integrated discovery platform is producing a stream of candidate antibodies demonstrating broad in vitro neutralization against past variants of concern (e.g., D614G, beta, delta) and Omicron sublineages BA.1, BA.2, BA.4, BA.5 and BA.2.75, as well as SARS-CoV-1
- Antibodies target highly conserved epitopes under low immune pressure
- NVD200, a novel combination of two monoclonal antibodies, expected to advance into clinical trials in Q1 2023
WALTHAM, Mass., Sept. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Invivyd, (NASDAQ:IVVD), formerly Adagio Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ADGI), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company on a mission to protect humanity from serious viral respiratory diseases, announced today that the Company has generated multiple next-generation candidate antibodies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, including two molecules designated for near-term clinical development in combination as NVD200. NVD200 is expected to enter the clinic in the first quarter of 2023.
The integrated Invivyd discovery platform generated dozens of potent and broadly neutralizing anti-SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibody candidates over the past two quarters. Now included in Invivyd's pipeline are multiple novel discovery-stage molecules that were produced using the company's deep expertise at the intersection of evolutionary virology, predictive modeling, and antibody engineering. These molecules are all designed to be high-functioning and long-lasting with a high barrier to viral escape. The company's antibody candidates are tuned to optimize across potency, breadth of neutralization, barrier to escape, and half-life. Such antibodies may be deployed prior to exposure to SARS-CoV-2 to prevent disease or, once sick, to treat disease.
"COVID-19 continues to impose a significant and unacceptable burden on humanity, which is why I am pleased that our integrated discovery platform has been so productive at identifying novel candidates with potential to transcend the limitations of the human immune response," said David Hering, CEO of Invivyd. "Our approach is designed to find unique molecules that target the validated SARS-CoV-2 spike protein at sites under limited immune pressure, which we expect to translate into a high barrier to viral escape. We are rapidly advancing NVD200, our novel combination candidate, toward the clinic with a Phase 1 clinical trial expected to start in the first quarter of next year. At the same time, we are diligently monitoring emerging variants to inform our development plans for the multiple additional discovery candidates in our pipeline, as well as innovating to provide a steady stream of new candidates to address the continuously evolving viral threat."
NVD200 is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies which demonstrated potent in vitro neutralizing activity against prior and current SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, including Omicron BA.1, BA.2, BA.4, BA.5, and BA.2.75 sublineages, as well as the more antigenically divergent SARS-CoV-1. This antibody combination has been selected for neutralization potency, breadth of coverage, and non-dominant epitope recognition. The antibodies in the combination target non-overlapping epitopes that are rarely targeted by endogenous neutralizing antibodies, which limits immune pressure on these sites and increases the probability of sustained utility in an evolving viral landscape. One of the antibodies in the combination is a re-engineered version of adintrevimab, the company's most advanced product candidate, which met all primary endpoints with statistical significance in a pre-Omicron setting in global Phase 3 clinical trials for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.
"The multiple novel antibodies we have engineered further expand on our discovery work with adintrevimab and subsequent clinically meaningful results," said Laura Walker, Ph.D., co-founder and chief scientific officer of Invivyd. "Over the past two years, remarkable advances have been made in our understanding of the plasticity of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain, the co-evolution of the virus and the human antibody response, and the importance of neutralization in protection, allowing us to select and engineer lead molecules that we believe will have sustained utility. We have also created a continuous discovery process to stay ahead of viral variation, so any gaps in coverage may be rapidly filled."
Invivyd's platform includes continuous variant monitoring and extensive exploration of the vast universe of potential antibodies outside of the common human immune repertoire. The company has already identified hundreds of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies and selected them based on stringent selection criteria including potency, breadth of coverage across SARS-CoV-2 variants and other sarbecoviruses, immunorecessive epitope targeting, and specified developability criteria.