Aridis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ARDS) Reports its Monoclonal Antibody Cocktail AR-701 Is Protective in COVID-19 Omicron Infected Animals

Aridis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARDS), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel anti-infective therapies to treat life-threatening infections, announced today that both of its fully human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in the AR-701 cocktail neutralized the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. Moreover, both mAbs conferred complete protection against Omicron infected animals when given either parenterally or by intranasal administration.

• Both mAbs in the AR-701 cocktail, i.e., AR-720 and AR-703, neutralized all authentic SARS-CoV-2 beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, and Omicron variants in vitro
• Both mAbs of the AR-701 cocktail, when used either individually or in combination, conferred complete eradication of virus from Omicron infected mice and protection against disease pathology.

Aridis Pharmaceuticals has recently received a $1.9 million (USD) grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to evaluate the prevention of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) viral transmission using inhaled delivery of monoclonal antibodies.

"We believe these exciting animal efficacy results are the first of any COVID antibody program to show this level of broad reactivity and efficacy, including in Omicron infected models. Given large scale clinical data from others which showed mAbs are effective as a COVID-19 preventative treatment, we think that AR-701 is well positioned for pan-coronavirus prophylaxis" commented Vu Truong, Ph.D., CEO of Aridis Pharmaceuticals. "In addition to being broadly reactive against all COVID-19 variants, we have previously shown AR-701's effectiveness against SARS, MERS, and seasonal influenza viruses, and importantly, it is engineered for long-acting effectiveness, potentially lasting a year or more when used in humans," continued Dr. Truong. "AR-701 is just one of several exciting programs in our diverse pipeline, which includes two Phase 3 programs in bacterial pneumonia and a Phase 2 program in cystic fibrosis. We look forward to sharing further updates as we continue to move these programs forward."

You May Also Be Interested In

• IBM tumbles on soft Q1 revenue; announces HashiCorp $6.4bn acquisition
• Katapult Holdings (KPLT) Announces Resignation of Chief Accounting Officer
• Sanofi jumps as Q1 key profit measure tops estimates; Citi reiterates Buy