Author: Vitaliy Dadalyan

Sorrento Identifies Second 'More Potent' Anti-COVID-19 Antibody For Clinical Testing

Sorrento Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: SRNE) shares are rising again following gains in the previous two sessions.What Happened: San Diego, California-based Sorrento, which is developing antibody treatments against SARS-CoV-2, said preclinical data showed its COVI-GUARD and COVI-AMG antibodies demonstrated potent neutralizing activities against the virus that caused COVID-19.COVI-GUARD is codenamed STI-1499 and COVI-AMG is codenamed STI-2020.In pre-clinical cell-based assays, both the antibodies showed 100% in vitro neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 at concentrations of 6 microgram/ml and 78 ng/ml, respectively, the company said. The observed neutralization activity protected against both SARS-CoV and the highly contagious Spike D614G isolate.Specifically, STI-2020, an affinity-matured version of the COVI-GUARD nAb, showed over 50-fold increase in potency in vitro experiments.Related Link: The Week Ahead In Biotech: FDA Decisions For Mesoblast And Eton, Coronavirus Vaccine UpdatesOutlining the key findings, Sorrento said infected hamsters treated with a single dose of 500mcg STI-2020 gained weight within 48 hours of administration compared to...