SAB doses first patient with COVID-19 therapeutic

Aug. 11, 2020

Sioux Falls-based SAB Biotherapeutics has started testing in a human patient for its therapeutic specifically developed for the virus that causes COVID-19.

The company has started phase one of its study to evaluate SAB-185. That study will test the therapeutic’s safety in healthy volunteers.

SAB-185 is described as a highly potent, polyclonal antibody therapeutic that could treat ill patients and provide protective antibodies that could have significant value to protect the military, front-line responders, mission-critical staff and high-risk populations against COVID-19.

“This is a critical time in the global fight against COVID-19, and we believe that SAB-185, a fully human polyclonal antibody, has the potential to serve as a differentiated therapeutic option. SAB-185 is supported by recently published preclinical data, which demonstrate that our novel immunotherapy platform can successfully neutralize mutated strains of viruses,” Eddie Sullivan, co-founder, president and CEO of SAB Biotherapeutics, said in a statement.

“Further, SAB-185 preclinical data has demonstrated highly potent neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 that are more potent than human convalescent plasma serum samples available against the virus. Taken together, these data suggest that SAB-185 may be effective even as SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve. We are excited to be one step closer to realizing our vision of advancing a new class of immunotherapies that leverage the native human immune response and match the evolution of human disease amidst this global pandemic and look forward to initiating our Phase 1b study of SAB-185 in COVID-19 patients.”

SAB’s technology leverages the natural human immune response, providing a highly specific match against the complexity, diversity and mutation of disease, the company said.

In the case of the virus that causes COVID-19, that means the therapeutic is designed to both neutralize the virus and activate other immune system components that are important in helping the body fight disease. This is particularly important with rapidly mutating targets such as viruses and antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, SAB said.

A recent Frontiers in Microbiology article highlighted preclinical data demonstrating SAB’s novel fully human polyclonal antibody therapeutic for hantavirus was effective against both original and mutated strains of the virus and capable of binding multiple targets and epitopes, providing benefit over conventional approaches.

The Phase I healthy volunteer clinical trial that has started for the COVID-19 therapeutic involves 28 participants, who have not been infected. Direct support for Phase 1 and Phase 1b clinical trials is being provided by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense on behalf of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and the Defense Health Agency.

SAB has announced three awards valued at $72 million since March 2020 for development of its COVID-19 therapeutic candidate and for scaling its rapid-response capacity and capabilities for current and future product development from discovery through licensure.

“We are determined to make a difference and help patients with our innovative new technology when it is needed most. We are proud to partner with JPEO and BARDA, using science as the solution,” Sullivan said. “Our team is working together with private, public, government and academic collaborations at a diligent and accelerated pace to combat this global health crisis while providing a truly responsive model for future emerging diseases and biothreats.”

SAB announces government funding, private investment for COVID-19 therapeutic and scaling antibody program

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SAB doses first patient with COVID-19 therapeutic

Sioux Falls-based SAB Biotherapeutics has started testing in a human patient for its therapeutic specifically developed for the virus that causes COVID-19.

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