A cocktail of antibodies developed by the Quebec company Immune Biosolutions has demonstrated its effectiveness in soothing the respiratory symptoms caused by COVID-19 during the acute phase of the disease.
The drug named IBIO123 has gone through the first two phases of clinical trials and the results obtained by the Sherbrooke-based company are the subject of a scientific article published Monday in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
For the CEO of Immune Biosolutions, Luc Paquet, this publication in a prestigious medical journal constitutes valuable scientific recognition for his team.
In addition to proving effective in preventing the virus from causing damage in the lungs, the drug is also believed to be the first-ever inhaled immunotherapy treatment for COVID-19.
IBIO123 is administered by nebulizer. That is, the patient breathes in a kind of vapor containing the drug for a few minutes. Thus, the antibodies are directed directly to the lungs, where they attack the focus of infection.
“Nobody in the world, until now, had tried to give antibodies by inhalation, as much for COVID as for other respiratory diseases,” says the chief medical officer at Immune Biosolutions, Dr.r Bruno Maranda. “We thought it was not possible, but in fact the antibodies can be compatible with this mode of administration there”, he assures.
The Dr Maranda is co-lead author of the article titled “Safety and efficacy of inhaled IBIO123 for mild-to-moderate COVID-19: a randomised, double-blind, dose-ascending, placebo-controlled, phase 1/2 trial”.
Based on the released results, the double-blind clinical trials were conducted with 162 adult patients with mild to moderate symptoms of COVID-19. On day 8 of the disease, 41% of people treated enjoyed a resolution of their respiratory symptoms compared to 17% of people who received a placebo. Among high-risk patients, the success rate was 35% with IBIO123 compared to 10% with placebo.
The studies were conducted on patients infected with the Omicron variant, but the drug is believed to remain effective against all known SARS CoV-2 variants and subvariants so far.
three fronts
This new drug was designed from monoclonal antibodies collected from patients who fought COVID-19. Immune Biosolutions has studied these antibodies and successfully replicated them. The company then chose to create a cocktail of antibodies to attack the virus on three fronts.
The combination chosen by the Immune Biosolutions scientific team also has the particularity of targeting a part of the virus that has been practically unaffected by the mutations and which seems unlikely to be. According to the explanations provided by Dr.r Maranda, the strategy employed was to target the S2 part of the virus spike.
“It’s as if we created a twist in the spicule and it is no longer able to perform its biological function of binding and entering the cells. [humaines] “, describes the geneticist.
Phase 3
In the wake of massive investments to fight the pandemic, Immune Biosolutions received financial support of $4.5 million from the Government of Quebec and $13.44 million from the Government of Canada. Private investors have also injected nearly $5 million into the adventure.
For the future, the company says it is in negotiations with potential partners for a phase 3 study. The challenge is to find the resources necessary for large-scale production to better assess all the treatment-related effects and risks on a larger pool of patients.
The research centers of the Center hospitalier universitaire de Montréal (CHUM) and the CHU Sainte-Justine collaborated in the work.
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