In December, 2019, a novel coronavirus hit  the human population and caused a worldwide pandemic from which we have yet to  recover. Even considering that the current vaccines will be successful, we are still  in need of more tools and novel approaches to effectively fight back the evolving  SARS-CoV-2 contagion. 

 For this reason, ACROBiosystems is  supporting, teaming, and coordinating efforts with prominent scientists and  institutions from around the world to help find novel ways to protect people  from SARS-CoV-2 infective attacks; such as with the recent collaboration established  with Professor Michael Wallach of the University of Technology, Sydney,  Australia. and the Director of the Centre for Innovative Medical Research.

Prof. Wallach, a renowned expert in  infectious diseases & vaccines, has over 30 years of experience in basic and  applied molecular parasitology & virology with a background in both  academic and industrial science.  He is  also the Director of SPARK Oceania, which is part of the SPARK Global  consortium, which promotes medical research that benefits patients through seed  funding, innovative ideas and a program of mentoring and support for aspiring  researchers.

Prof Wallach is working on ground breaking  methods to prevent COVID-19 infection by using antibodies against the existing  and emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants (such as UK and South African strains) that can easily be obtained  from chicken eggs and formulated into lozenges to directly protect the  nasopharyngeal tract as a first line of defense against COVID. This work is  being carried out in collaboration with Camas Inc. Animal Agriculture Company,  Le Center, Minnesota, USA. Camas has a great deal of experience in  coronaviruses that affect veterinary medicine.

The many advantages of this approach include  the fact that chicken antibodies can be rapidly mass produced at a low cost anywhere  in the world, and that lozenges conveniently serve as a passive auto-administrated  blockade that catches the virus before it enters or exits the body by  immobilizing SARS-CoV-2 and inhibiting viral binding to the ACE2 receptor. This approach can be combined with nasal formulations that block  viral entry as well.

Nasopharyngeal immunotherapies have already  successfully been implemented to fight Rhinosinusitis, Respiratory Syncytial  Virus (RSV), Influenza, and Allergy disorders by directly employing many types  of biologics and drugs as the active therapeutic agents. The proven versatility  of the nasal immunotherapies offers interesting new opportunities like the one  being explored by Professor David L. Brody at NIH’s National Institute of  Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), where his team generated llama nanobodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein utilizing ACROBiosystems products  as a method to prevent infections.

The beauty of nanobodies is that they are  small 12-15 kDa single-domain antibody fragments that show superior properties  such as chemical stability, high affinity to a broad spectrum of epitopes, low immunogenicity,  ease of generation and initially effective in an infection relevant SARS-CoV-2  virus model as proven by Dr. Brody, suggesting that the nanobody could remain  effective after inhalation.

These results exemplify how novel biologic-based  therapeutic applications can effectively be developed utilizing current available  antigens and antibodies from the  ACROBiosystems  catalogue.

ACROBiosystems Inc.
 ACROBiosystems is a leading manufacturer of  recombinant proteins and other critical reagents to support the development of  target therapeutics, vaccines and diagnostics. The team has established  long-term collaborations with big pharms, such as Pfizer, Novartis, and Johnson  & Johnson, and well-known academic institutes.

To fight against COVID-19, ACROBiosystems  has developed high-quality  super stable trimeric S protein,  S RBD,  S1,  S2, and  N proteins,  COVID-19 variants,  paired antibodies with outstanding sensitivity verified by inactivated virus samples  and featured products are suitable for IgG/M antibody titer detection,  neutralizing antibody titer detection and antigen titer detection to accelerate  the  vaccine development.

The Centre for Innovative Medical  Research

 The Centre for Innovative Medical Research is located in Sydney, Australia and  was established to accelerate international collaboration for ideation,  research, development, and commercialisation of scientific breakthroughs for  the benefit of humankind.

SPARK 

 The Stanford SPARK program was established  in 2006 to advance academic biomedical research discoveries into promising new  treatments for patients. SPARK bridges the gap between discovery and drug treatment  through a unique partnership between university and industry experts.