Vir Biotechnology Up 31.5%; Findings From Efforts to Develop Therapeutics for Covid-19 Published
May 18 2020 - 11:34AM
Dow Jones News
By Michael Dabaie
Vir Biotechnology Inc. shares were up 31.5% to $39.90 in morning
trading.
Before the market open, Vir said research findings from the
company's efforts to develop therapeutics for Covid-19 were
published in the journal Nature.
The paper, entitled "Cross-neutralization of SARS-CoV and
SARS-CoV2 by a human monoclonal antibody" details the
identification and characterization of S309, an antibody isolated
from a patient who recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome
in 2003, which has been shown to prevent SARS-CoV-2 live virus
infection of cells.
Vir said it is advancing two clinical development candidates
based on the S309 antibody as potential therapeutics for Covid-19,
VIR-7831 and VIR-7832, in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline
PLC.
"Remarkably, we believe S309 likely covers the entire family of
related coronaviruses, which suggests that, even as SARS-CoV-2
continues to evolve, it may be quite challenging for it to become
resistant to the neutralizing activity of S309," said Herbert
"Skip" Virgin, chief scientific officer of Vir.
Clinical testing is expected to begin this summer in
collaboration with GSK, the company said.
Write to Michael Dabaie at michael.dabaie@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 18, 2020 11:19 ET (15:19 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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