Adagio Therapeutics prvides information of ADG20 to address Omicron variant

Adagio Therapeutics provided information related to the potential of its lead SARS-CoV-2 antibody, ADG20, to address the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant, and other known variants of concern. ADG20 is an investigational monoclonal antibody product candidate designed to provide broad and potent neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2, including variants of concern, for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 with potential duration of protection for up to one year in a single injection. Given the significant potential health crisis resulting from the emergence of Omicron, Adagio is undertaking a number of activities to support ADG20's utility in addressing this newly emerged variant of concern, including: Conducting in vitro studies to evaluate the expected binding and neutralizing activity of ADG20 against Omicron. Initial data from these studies is anticipated by the end of the year; and Recruiting patients in Adagio's Phase 2/3 COVID-19 treatment trial, known as STAMP, across several clinical sites in South Africa in an effort to generate clinical data for ADG20 against infections due to the Omicron variant. Based on the data being generated, Adagio plans to engage with health authorities and government agencies to accelerate development and supply of ADG20 to combat SARS-CoV-2 and its variants of concern. The neutralizing antibody response induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination is dominated by three classes of receptor binding domain- directed antibodies , which often share common escape mutations. The newly emerged Omicron variant identified in South Africa contains mutations associated with resistance to a large proportion of these commonly elicited antibodies, which may be due to immune pressure on these antigenic sites. Data for most antibodies available under EUA or in late-stage clinical development show they target one of these three dominant antigenic regions within the RBD. In vitro studies have shown that ADG20 binds to a highly conserved epitope within the RBD that is not targeted by any of the common classes of neutralizing antibodies induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination. Thus, unlike many other clinical-stage antibodies, which were isolated from COVID-19 patients and recognize epitopes that are also targeted by endogenous neutralizing antibodies, there is limited immune pressure on the ADG20 binding site. The ADG20 epitope has remained conserved in 99.99% of the nearly 4 million full length SARS-CoV-2 viral sequences deposited in the GISAID database as of October 15, 2021, and, as shown in in vitro studies, ADG20 retains activity against prior variants of concern including Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma. For the Omicron variant, none of the mutations present in the spike protein are associated with escape from ADG20 neutralization. Based on published epitope mapping and structural studies, Adagio anticipates that ADG20 will retain neutralizing activity against the Omicron variant whereas other mAb products may lose substantial activity against this variant. Previously disclosed in vitro data demonstrated retained neutralizing activity of ADG20 against a diverse panel of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, including the recently emerged Lambda, Mu and Delta plus variants. Notably, findings from these in vitro studies showed that ADG20 demonstrated potent neutralizing activity against all SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern tested, including those with reduced susceptibility to mAb products currently available under EUA or in late-stage development.