SAB Biotherapeutics Program Targeting COVID-19: SAB-185

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, a highly mutating virus in humans causing respiratory illness that can be spread from person-to-person. For most people, COVID-19 resolves on its own and they will not need medical care, recovering in less than two weeks. However, COVID-19 can cause severe illness and complications, particularly among those at high risk including those with underlying medical conditions and adults over the age of 65.

To learn more about COVID-19 click here.

SAB-185’s Targeted Product Profile and Administration Routes:

SAB-185 is a first-in-class fully-human broadly neutralizing polyclonal antibody treatment designed to increase the body’s ability to fight multiple variants of COVID-19, especially in high-risk patients.

SAB-185 is being studied as a therapeutic for high-risk COVID-19 patients defined by the CDC as: ¹

People who are unvaccinated
Adults 65 years of age and older
- Patients in nursing homes/assisted living
Pregnant and recently pregnant
Physically inactive
Those who smoke (currently and formerly)
Users of corticosteroids or other immunosuppressive medications
Those of all ages with underlying medical conditions, including but not limited to:
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Lung disease

SAB-185 is administered intravenously, with subcutaneous and intramuscular administration in development.

The Polyclonal Approach to a Frequently Mutating Virus

Figure 1: Key Differentiations of a Polyclonal Approach to Treating COVId-19

SAB-185 represents a highly differentiated treatment option that provides an appropriate match against the complexity, diversity, and the mutations SARS-CoV-2 presents.

This novel fully-human multi-epitope binding IgG candidate for COVID-19 treatment may have value both therapeutically, as a treatment for already symptomatic COVID19 patients, and for post-exposure prophylaxis when a person gets exposed to SARS-CoV2 virus but has not yet developed symptoms. SAB-185 is produced without the need for human convalescent plasma, blood donations, or serum. SAB-185 production efficiently produces large volumes of fully human polyclonal antibodies targeted specifically to address SARS-CoV-2.

Unlike monoclonal antibodies, SAB-185 has the capacity to sustain efficacy despite SARS-CoV2 viral mutations protecting against potential escape mutants resulting in new variants (or strains). SAB-185 exhibits a half-life that allows long-term protection against a mutating virus with only a single dose.

As COVID-19 is a frequently mutating virus with multiple documented variants, SAB-185’s cross-reactivity and in vivo efficacy in animals and humans to different strains provides the most logical approach to treat COVID-19. It is the only potential therapeutic amongst biologics that showed sustained efficacy across multiple variants evolved over the last 3+ years.

SAB-185 is a target-specific human immunoglobulin G (hIgG), which are polyclonal antibodies, designed to specifically bind to the SARS-CoV2 viruses. SAB-185 supplies broadly neutralizing antibodies working together with antibodies that are naturally produced by the body’s immune system. SAB-185 antibodies can neutralize many different genetic variants of COVID-19.

In Phase 2 data from the NIH COVID-19 ACTIV-2 Trial, a study designed to evaluate treatments for COVID-19 in patients at higher risk for progression to hospitalization, SAB-185 showed statistically significant reduction in viral load at day 3 [See Figures 2 & 3]. SAB-185 has also demonstrated its ability to reduce the viral load in patients given higher and lower doses [See Figure 4].

For information on the Phase 3 trial data, click here.