BioCentury
ARTICLE | Distillery Therapeutics

Infectious disease

October 17, 2017 4:56 PM UTC

Mice studies suggest CD23-activating, bispecific antibodies against two HA epitopes could help boost responses to seasonal influenza vaccines. Bispecific antibodies were engineered against the stem and globular domains of HA, then were sialylated at the Fc domain, or engineered to contain a variant Fc domain that mimics sialylation, to activate CD23, which enhances B cell responses to vaccination. In a mouse challenge model of H1N1 or H5N1 influenza infection, IgG from mice immunized with the antibody plus a H1N1 vaccine decreased weight loss and increased survival compared with IgG from naïve mice. In a mouse challenge model of H5N1 influenza infection, IgG from mice immunized with the bispecific antibody plus a seasonal influenza vaccine decreased weight loss and increased survival compared with IgG from naïve mice or the seasonal influenza vaccine alone. Next steps include testing the combination of the bispecific antibody and seasonal vaccines against group two influenza viruses.

Roche and Genentech Inc. have MHAA4549A (RG7745), a human mAb that binds to a conserved epitope on influenza A virus HA stalk region, in Phase II testing for a broad range of influenza strains. ...