Lilly Teams up with GSK, Vir to Fight New COVID-19 Variants Using Antibody Combo

In a move to strengthen the fight against COVID-19, Eli Lilly penned a deal with GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology on January 27th to combine their therapies in the hope of forming a more potent treatment that can fight against new variants.

Lilly’s bamlanivimab bagged FDA emergency approval late last year after it was proved effective at treating mild to moderate COVID-19 infection in “high risk” patients. It is a neutralizing antibody directed against the spike protein of the virus that works by blocking the attachment of the virus and entry into human cells.

GSK/Vir treatment also targets spike protein. However, it binds to a side of the protein different from that of Lilly’s. The companies are hoping that by combining antibodies that bind to different epitopes, they may be able to create better potency drugs and make the virus less likely to evade.

“Despite the significant progress on vaccines, there remains an urgent patient need for multiple therapeutic approaches to help prevent the severe consequences of COVID-19,” said Dr. Hal Barron, Chief Scientific Officer and President R&D of GSK.

“Partnering with Lilly to study VIR-7831 with bamlanivimab will provide the scientific community with further data on the important role these therapies could play in reducing the impact of this devastating pandemic.”

Bamlanivimab’s Market Failure

When bamlanivimab became the first antibody therapy to get approval, healthcare providers were worried there won’t be enough to support the increasing numbers of patients. But surprisingly, early data collected from the hospitals show the opposite.

So far, only 20% of the supply has been given to the patients. This is because of the confusion created by the complex definition of “high risk” as laid out in an FDA fact sheet of the drug.

According to the FDA, the drug should be administered within ten days of symptom onset, but before they’re sick enough to be hospitalized. Hospital administrators have been struggling to select people who qualify for antibody drugs because of delays in testing.

Topping that, the demand for the drug from patients themselves is weaker. This is because of the reluctance of the patient to leave the comfort of their home and go to the hospital to get the antibody infusions. Unlike once a day pill, this is cumbersome and inconvenient for a patient. While patients are worried about getting to the hospital, doctors are worried about the drug efficacy. The data that Lilly put forward for the approval is confusing and has kept doctors from embracing the drug.

Besides, the drug is also facing a grave challenge of fighting coronavirus variants. These variants may differ in the epitope on which Lilly’s antibody binds and, therefore, make the therapy ineffective.

How Will the Combo Help?

By combining bamlanivimab with VIR-7831, Lilly believes that it may be able to produce a combo, which is way more potent than the monotherapy and will be effective against new variants.

By saying this, Lilly is pointing to VIR-7831’s dual-action that can potentially block viral entry into healthy cells and clear infected cells, as well as provide a high barrier to resistance. Early preclinical studies of the drug show that it could bind epitopes that are common between SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1.

This indicates that the epitope on which VIR-7831 binds is highly conserved, and therefore, it will be difficult for new variants to change that epitope and escape the therapy. If this combo is potent and can fight new variants, it may instill confidence in healthcare providers and patients who were afraid of embracing it. The combination is currently being tested in the Blaze-4 trial.

“With a virus-like SARS-CoV-2, it’s expected that variants could emerge that require new therapeutic options, which is why Lilly is studying bamlanivimab together with other neutralizing antibodies, including etesevimab. Adding VIR-7831 to our study is an important part of our commitment to develop therapies to treat current and future strains of COVID-19 until vaccines are widely available and utilized,” said Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., CSO, and President of Lilly Research Laboratories.

His view resonated with George Scangos, CEO of Vir Biotech, who said, “As the virus continues to evolve, we, along with Lilly and GSK, share the view that we should pursue all possibilities to help end the pandemic and maximize the number of lives that can be saved.”

Related Article: Regeneron Looks to Achieve “Passive Vaccination” with COVID-19 Antibody Cocktail

References

1. https://investor.lilly.com/news-releases/news-release-details/lilly-vir-biotechnology-and-gsk-announce-first-patient-dosed

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Author

Ruchi Jhonsa