Broad Spectrum CoV Therapeutic; rhACE2 Immunoadhesin to treat COVID19

Over the last decade, multiple pandemic events have highlighted the vulnerability of the world to existing and emerging infectious threats. Currently, COVID19 has infected >4M people resulting in >300K deaths. Although there are candidate drugs in development, the projected term until an effective COVID therapy or vaccine is available is projected to between 1-2 years. COVID19 marks the third coronavirus outbreak (preceded by SARS and MERS) within the last 20 years and suggests spillover of animal to human coronavirus will occur again. Therefore, in addition to conventional practices (social distancing and quarantining), other strategies to prevent death and spread are needed. The ability to have a ready-made coronavirus solution in place could provide an effective tool in the early phases of future outbreaks and protect front line workers and naïve populations. The Therapeutics Business Unit (TxBU) within Emergent BioSolutions Canada Inc. is proposing a proof-of-concept program to address current and future Coronavirus infections. Chimeric variants of recombinant human ACE2 receptor will be evaluated and downselected to a lead candidate(s) to assess efficacy in vivo for treatment and prophylaxis modalities (against SARS-CoV-2 and SARS) with implications for addressing future coronavirus outbreaks.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jason Kindrachuk;Peter Pelka

Student:

Andrew Webb;Scott Bachus

Partner:

Emergent BioSolutions

Discipline:

Biology

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Manitoba