Fully human antibody candidate identified from the YUMAB® platform has neutralizing effect of SARS-CoV-2 in the presence of living cells
The company has identified several hundred additional antibody candidates currently under evaluation
Planning for development of clinical candidates is ongoing in close coordination with regulatory authorities
Braunschweig, May 07, 2020. YUMAB, a German antibody development company, announced today it hasidentified fully human monoclonal antibodies with neutralizing activity against patient-derived coronavirus strain SARS-CoV-2. This milestone was achieved in collaboration with the CORAT consortium. CORAT, originally initiated by YUMAB founder Prof. Stefan Dübel (University of Braunschweig) and Prof. Gundram Jung (University of Tübingen), is a world-class consortium of academic and industrial partners aligned to combat Covid-19. YUMAB’s next generation universal human antibody platform generated hundreds ofvirus-specific antibody candidates. In parallel, YUMAB built antibody libraries from recovered Covid-19 donors for identification of additional therapeutic candidates. Antibody drug candidates with full neutralization capacity of a patient-derived SARS-CoV-2 strain were confirmed by Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI).“This result represents a crucial milestone in development of ineffective therapy for Covid-19,”said Dr.Thomas Schirrmann, CEO of YUMAB. The company’s CSO, Dr.André Frenzel, comments “YUMAB decided early-on to pursue multiple strategies to identify effective therapeutic candidates. Dr.Frenzel adds,“this result was achieved in collaboration with our partners in the CORAT consortium who supported us to reach this important milestone.” YUMAB and its CORAT partners are in close communication with regulatory authorities regarding clinical development of antibody drug candidates. Dr. Schirrmann looks ahead confidently, “Given the high level of cooperation within CORAT and close communication with regulatory authorities, we expect to start clinical studies in humans in the 2nd half of 2020.