Celltrion’s anti-COVID 19 monoclonal antibody treatment, regdanvimab (CT-P59), demonstrates neutralising effect against the South African variant (B.1.351)

Celltrion’s anti-COVID 19 monoclonal antibody treatment, regdanvimab (CT-P59), demonstrates neutralising effect against the South African variant (B.1.351)

·          Pre-clinical data for Celltrion’s monoclonal antibody treatment regdanvimab (CT-P59) shows significant reduction in viral load of SARS-CoV-2, with no significant difference observed in the neutralisation titres against wild type SARS-CoV-2

·          Celltrion has completed patient enrolment of 1,300 people in a global Phase III clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CT-P59

·          Celltrion to commence further investigation into neutralisation activity of CT-P59 against other emerging COVID-19 variants

April 29 2021, INCHEON, KOREA – Celltrion Group today announced preliminary pre-clinical results for regdanvimab (CT-P59), an anti-COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment, with data demonstrating that CT-P59 has a neutralising effect against the South African variant in an in vivo model.  The study demonstrated that CT-P59 treatment, at a clinically relevant dose, results in a significant reduction in viral load of SARS-CoV-2. The manuscript describing this pre-clinical data is available on the pre-print server bioRxiv and is concurrently undergoing scientific peer-review for potential publication.

This pre-clinical study assessed the neutralisation effect of CT-P59 against the South African variant, using a clinically relevant dose. CT-P59 demonstrated reduction in the binding affinity against the receptor binding domain (RBD) in the three mutations (K417N, E484K and N501Y substitutions) of the South African variant. In addition, CT-P59 showed a reduced susceptibility against the South African variant in a live virus and pseudo-virus assay in vitro study. However, there was no significant difference observed in the respiratory viral infection in the upper and lower respiratory tracts when exposed with SARS-CoV-2 wild type and the South African variants in the study. Taken together, the reduced effect in in vitro neutralisation of CT-P59 is unlikely to compromise the in vivo therapeutic potency against the variant in the respiratory tract, especially at a clinical dose.

“We are encouraged by the new data, which reinforces that Celltrion’s CT-P59 treatment could be effective against the South African variant and variant mutations,” said Dr. HoUng Kim, Ph.D., Head of Medical and Marketing Division at Celltrion Healthcare. “Faced with the rapid spread of COVID-19 variants, global access to effective antibody treatment is fundamentally important to reduce the disease progression rate to severe COVID-19 and help outpatients avoid hospitalisation and alleviate the burden on the health care system. We have commenced the development of a neutralising antibody cocktail with CT-P59 against new emerging strains in the UK and South Africa and we will continue to further investigate the neutralising antibodies and other responses to protect against current SARS-CoV-2 strains and emerging variants .”

Celltrion’s global Phase III clinical trial to further evaluate the efficacy and safety of CT-P59 is ongoing in 13 countries including the U.S., Spain and Romania, having recently completed patient enrolment of 1,300 people.