Gates Foundation awards $1.9 million grant to Aridis for development of inhaled mAbs

Aridis Pharmaceuticals announced that it has received an award of $1.9 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to fund preclinical development of inhaled monoclonal antibodies against influenza and SARS-CoV-2. Aridis is developing both dry powder and liquid inhalation formulations in collaboration with Lumen Bioscience, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the Texas Biomedical Research Institute.

In December 2021, Aridis said that in vitro studies of its AR-701 inhaled mAb cocktail demonstrated that the formulation was able to neutralize a broad range of coronaviruses, including the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 and the coronaviruses that cause SARS and MERS.

According to Aridis, the Gates Foundation award could be extended through IND enabling work and Phase 1/2a clinical trials if initial results are encouraging. The company said that the initial funding will take the project through virus challenge studies in animal models.

Aridis CEO Vu Truong commented, “We are gratified to receive support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which underscores the importance of applying advanced inhalation technology to combat infection and transmission of respiratory viruses such as COVID-19 and influenza. The combination of dose sparing achieved by inhaled delivery and algae sourced mAbs has the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of antiviral treatment and expand the access of mAbs worldwide.”

Read the Aridis Pharmaceuticals press release.