AstraZeneca Licenses Vanderbilt University’s Monoclonal Antibodies for COVID-19

AstraZeneca has licensed six monoclonal antibodies from Vanderbilt University and plans to advance the most promising ones for prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

The company said it plans to begin a study of two antibodies as a combination treatment within the next two months.

AstraZeneca has secured $23.7 million in funding from HHS’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to support manufacturing of the antibodies for testing and for a phase 1 trial.

Meanwhile, Eli Lilly is pursuing single antibody therapies and combination regimens, which will include its current antibodies, JS016 and LY-CoV555, and others in its pipeline (DID, June 9).

GlaxoSmithKline, Vir Biotechnology and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals are also expected to begin testing monoclonal antibodies in humans soon (DID, June 2). — Jordan Williams