KVAL: Novel biologics tailored for treatment of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is having a huge impact on health and the economy, and although vaccines have been developed rapidly, there are few therapies available that can be used to treat those who do not respond well to the vaccines. There is therefore an urgent global need for treatment alternatives with a range of complementary approaches, especially adapted to elderly and immunocompromised patients to be developed. In this context, there is an obvious need for biological medicines that have a long-term benefit, and which can be used to slow the spread of the coronavirus, thereby providing effective treatment for those who are already ill or for preventive treatment. Preferably, the designed biological drugs should be tailored so that they can fight the virus where it attacks. Projects have set out to develop a new class of biological drugs that block infection using a unique technology platform, patented by us. The project has led to a drug candidate that binds and blocks SARS-CoV-2's ability to infect cells, and that of all the most relevant virus variants. Throughout the project, a dialogue has been held with a central industrial player about the development, and where the company has shared information and carried out some to test the activity of the candidate. There is now a desire to follow the project further, where the goal is a license agreement, which has not yet been fulfilled. The work will be published shortly, and we will use every opportunity to promote a commercialization run. This is interesting regardless of SARS-CoV-2, as we have experienced that the candidate can also be used in the treatment of other indications.