By Michael Dabaie

 

Vir Biotechnology Inc. shares were up 31.5% to $39.90 in morning trading.

Before the market open, Vir said research findings from the company's efforts to develop therapeutics for Covid-19 were published in the journal Nature.

The paper, entitled "Cross-neutralization of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV2 by a human monoclonal antibody" details the identification and characterization of S309, an antibody isolated from a patient who recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, which has been shown to prevent SARS-CoV-2 live virus infection of cells.

Vir said it is advancing two clinical development candidates based on the S309 antibody as potential therapeutics for Covid-19, VIR-7831 and VIR-7832, in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline PLC.

"Remarkably, we believe S309 likely covers the entire family of related coronaviruses, which suggests that, even as SARS-CoV-2 continues to evolve, it may be quite challenging for it to become resistant to the neutralizing activity of S309," said Herbert "Skip" Virgin, chief scientific officer of Vir.

Clinical testing is expected to begin this summer in collaboration with GSK, the company said.

 

Write to Michael Dabaie at michael.dabaie@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 18, 2020 11:19 ET (15:19 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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