Double antibody a potential new treatment against SARS-CoV-2

The Joint Research Centre in collaboration with the partners in the research project ATAC developed a second generation ‘double antibody’ that is effective in neutralising the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants, which could be used in both prevention and treatment of COVID-19, according to the new study published in Nature.

JRC scientists contributed to the development of a second-generation antibody (bispecific) able to work against the new variants of COVID-19.

The antibody-based immunotherapy delivers promising results in the fight against COVID-19, by supporting the patient’s own immune system in being more targeted towards specific proteins of the virus, thus preventing its proliferation.

Bispecific antibody: how does it work?

Joining two antibodies into a single molecule (thus the “bispecific antibody”) attacks the virus in two places at the same time, offering a stronger neutralising activity with higher potential to neutralise the virus or strongly reduce the growth (proliferation) of the virus.

Its nature confers high potency and makes it a promising candidate worth testing in human clinical trials with the prospects, if proven safe and effective, for use in both prevention and treatment of COVID-19

Specific role of the JRC

JRC scientists have used the high-end infrastructure of the JRC Nanobiotechnology Laboratory to develop and apply analytical methods for measuring purity, stability, binding and biocompatibility of this bispecific antibody.

Research project ATAC

The work was led by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Bellinzona (CH) and developed within the research project ATAC, funded last April from Horizon 2020.

The consortium also includes the Karolinska Institutet (coordinator, SE), the San Matteo Hospital in Pavia (IT), the Braunschweig University (DE) and the Joint Research Centre in Ispra (IT).

Collaboration with Rockefeller University and the Czech Academy of Science was instrumental to prove the bispecific efficacy.

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