Memo Therapeutics said that a Swiss funding program for COVID-19 medicines has granted the company CHF 10.5 million for clinical development of the company’s COVAB 36 inhaled fully-human monoclonal antibody for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and the Swiss government will have the option to purchase doses of the antibody following approval. Memo said that the company may also rapidly develop a COVAB 36 in combination with an additional antibody as part of the project if that approach becomes necessary to target emerging variants.
Memo CEO Karsten Fischer said, “The Swiss government’s support in advancing clinical development of our SARS-CoV-2 antibody is an important milestone as we rapidly build upon our excellent preclinical data. We have been able to confirm outstanding activity in a relevant in vivo model supporting the significant potential of COVAB 36 in tackling SARS-CoV-2 infection. Such novel therapeutics will be essential tools for addressing the rapidly evolving COVID-19 global pandemic.”
Chief Scientific Officer Christoph Esslinger added, “This funding represents a further external validation of our leading antibody discovery platform, as we passed a thorough examination process where only projects with significant potential of clinical innovation and high level of scientific quality were selected. Now that we have completed preclinical development, we look forward to starting phase 1 clinical studies with COVAB 36 in Q1 2022.”
According to the Swiss funding program web site, the government’s goal is to make this antibody and three other COVID-19 drugs funded by the program available to Swiss residents by the end of 2022.
Read the Memo Therapeutics press release.
