CAMBRIDGE, Mass., NORTH CHICAGO, Ill., UTRECHT and ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands, SUZHOU, China, June 5, 2020 – AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV), Harbour BioMed (HBM), Utrecht University (UU) and Erasmus Medical Center (EMC) today announced they have entered into a collaboration to develop a novel antibody therapeutic to prevent and treat COVID-19, the pandemic respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The focus of the collaboration is on advancing the fully human, neutralizing antibody 47D11 discovered by UU, EMC and HBM and recently reported in Nature Communications. This antibody targets the conserved domain of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2.

 

 

Under the terms of the collaboration, AbbVie will support UU, EMC and HBM through the preclinical activities, while simultaneously undertaking preparations for later stage preclinical and clinical development work. AbbVie will receive an option to exclusively license the antibody from the three parties for therapeutic clinical development and commercialization worldwide.

 

 

“Treatment and prevention of COVID-19 remains a critical global need. The antibody discovered by UU, EMC and Harbour BioMed is extremely promising based on the mechanism by which it targets the virus and on its developability as a fully human protein,” said Tom Hudson, M.D., Senior Vice President, Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer, AbbVie.  “We look forward to working with this outstanding team to advance this antibody towards clinical trials.”

 

 

“AbbVie is a global leader in developing innovative antiviral therapies,” said Dr. Jingsong Wang, Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of HBM. “This collaboration will greatly accelerate our efforts to bring this antibody forward into clinical trials as quickly as possible and contribute a solution to this pandemic.”

 

“The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has highlighted the importance of understanding coronavirus biology,” said Berend-Jan Bosch, PhD, Associate Professor, Research leader at UU. “The collaboration with AbbVie provides an excellent opportunity to translate our research into a clinical candidate with great potential for advancing the fight against this disease.” 

 

 

Frank Grosveld, PhD, Academy Professor of Cell Biology, EMC, Rotterdam and Founding Chief Scientific Officer at Harbour BioMed, commented, “The collaboration is an endorsement of our approach to fully human antibody discovery and development. Through this collaboration, we are well positioned to move rapidly towards clinical trials.”

 

 

The antibody discovery, published online on May 4 in Nature Communications, targets a conserved region of the virus’ spike protein. In cell culture studies the antibody blocked infection by the SARS-CoV-2 and a second coronavirus SARS-CoV. The antibody is fully human, which is designed to facilitate its development and minimize immune-related side effects.

 

 

 

 

About AbbVie

 

AbbVie’s mission is to discover and deliver innovative medicines that solve serious health issues today and address the medical challenges of tomorrow. We strive to have a remarkable impact on people’s lives across several key therapeutic areas: immunology, oncology, neuroscience, eye care, virology, women’s health and gastroenterology, in addition to products and services across its Allergan Aesthetics portfolio. 

 

 

For more information about AbbVie, please visit us at www.abbvie.com. Follow @abbvie on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.

 

 

 

About Utrecht University

 

Founded in 1636, Utrecht University is one of the largest research universities of Europe, with over thirty thousand students and a staff of more than six thousand. We invest in creating the leaders of the future through innovative education of the highest quality, as reflected by the University's consistently high position in international rankings. Dedicated to performing groundbreaking research aimed at resolving large global issues, our culture of cooperation is a breeding ground for innovation, new insights and social impact. www.uu.nl.

 

 

 

About Erasmus Medical Center

 

Erasmus MC is the largest University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Our primary goal is a healthy population. Nearly 14,000 employees devote themselves every day to providing outstanding care, facilitating world-class education and conducting pioneering research. These professionals are instrumental in developing expertise on health and illness. They link the latest scientific insights to practical treatments and prevention measures to provide maximum benefit to patients and to enable healthy people to stay healthy longer. Being visibly better and leading the way in the areas of complex, innovative and acute care by collaborating with others: these are key ambitions at Erasmus MC.

 

 

 

About Harbour BioMed

 
Harbour BioMed (HKEX: 02142) is a global biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel antibody therapeutics focusing on oncology and immunology. The Company is building its robust portfolio and differentiated pipeline through internal R&D capability, collaborations with co-discovery and co-development partners and select acquisitions.

 
The Company’s proprietary antibody technology platforms Harbour Mice^® generate fully human monoclonal antibodies in two heavy and two light chain (H2L2) format, as well as heavy chain only (HCAb) format. Building upon the HCAb antibodies, the HCAb-based immune cell engagers (HBICE^®) are capable of delivering tumor killing effects unachievable by traditional combination therapies. Integrating Harbour Mice^® with single B cell cloning platform, our antibody discovery engine is highly unique and efficient for development of next generation therapeutic antibodies.  

 

For further information, please refer to www.harbourbiomed.com