Celltrion, clinical trial in COVID-19 in July

Securing candidates for 300 antibodies, final selection in April

Speed-up among neutralizing antibody developers

Super antibody development begins next month, diagnosis kit completed in May

Chairman Jeong-jin Seo of Celltrion said on the 23rd, "This July, human clinical trials will be started for the development of COVID-19 treatments".

 

He added, "It is possible to develop a therapeutic antibody for 1 million people per month after human administration".

 

Chairman Seo shared this business plan through an online press conference held on the same day.

 

According to the company, Celltrion is developing antibody treatments from February to receive COVID-19 confirmed patient's blood.

 

Currently, 300 candidates have been obtained.

 

Antibodies with excellent virus neutralization ability will be selected by April.

 

It is administered to patients as early as mid-July.

 

Celltrion will begin production of cell lines for mass production of antibodies from May, and production of clinical substances to be administered to the human body will be completed by mid-July or end of July.

 

After the human administration has started, it will develop a therapeutic antibody for 1 million people per month.

 

Antibody means an immune protein that binds to an antigen and interferes with the action of the antigen or removes the antigen.

 

Overseas, Genentech and Eli Lilly are developing COVID-19 antibody treatments.

 

The rate of antibody therapeutic development was the fastest.

 

"COVID-19 neutralizing antibody therapeutics are being developed by five companies, including Korea Celltrion, two global large pharmaceutical companies, and two overseas biotechs", said Seo.

 

He added that "Celltrion can be competitive in future developments due to its mass production capacity.

 

In case of emergency, it has also planned to prepare for supply by using CMO partners".

 

Celltrion also undertakes 'super antibody' screening to neutralize various coronaviruses (mutations, etc.).

 

"In March, we will be screening for super antibody screening that neutralizes the COVID-19, as well as the SARS and even the common cold-causing corona virus.

 

We will collect more blood samples and go ahead in speed", he said.

 

It accelerates the development of the COVID-19 diagnostic kit prototype.

 

The product that Celltrion is developing is a method to detect the S protein that is only present in COVID-19.

 

It is different from the existing rapid diagnosis kit that detects the N protein commonly held by various types of corona viruses.

 

"The Celltrion kit is expected to show performance close to RT-PCR, a standard diagnostic method for COVID-19 positive.

 

15-20 minutes is enough for test results, so it has the advantage of being able to check the test results on the spot".

 

It is planned to apply for CE certification for export to Europe by completing the production of prototypes in late April and completing clinical trials by the end of May through collaboration with specialized companies.