Characterization of therapeutic antibody efficacy against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants in the hamster model
The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and onset of the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic led to an immediate need for therapeutic treatment options. Therapeutic antibodies were developed to fill a gap when traditional antivirals were not available. In late 2020, the United States Government undertook an effort to compare candidate therapeutic antibodies in virus neutralization assays and in the hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection. With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, the effort expanded to evaluate the efficacy of nearly 50 products against major variants. A subset of products was further evaluated for therapeutic efficacy in hamsters. Here we report results of the hamster studies, including pathogenicity with multiple variants, neutralization capacity of products, and efficacy testing of products against Delta and Omicron variants. These studies demonstrate the loss of efficacy of early products with variant emergence and support the use of the hamster model for evaluating therapeutics.
Authors
- Anthony Marketon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8135-9976)
- Michael R. Holbrook (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0824-2667)
- Amanda M.W. Hischak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8798-7714)
- Jing Qin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2961-0860)
- Scott M. Anthony (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1590-7401)
- Kyra Hadley
- Sanae Lembirik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7278-9392)
- Brett Eaton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3060-2913)
- Marisa St. Claire (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5493-6187)
- Jiro Wada (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9846-0846)
- Elena Postnikova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0275-2148)
- Gregory Kocher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6866-2903)
- David Drawbaugh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7000-3667)
- Donna L. Perry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6653-4062)
- Erin Kollins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7684-4443)
- Russell Byrum
- Randy Hart (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-7268-2702)
- Louis Huzella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2913-489X)
- N. D. Vaughan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9023-5481)
- Rebecca Bernbaum
- Saurabh Dixit (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9140-9543)
- Michael Murphy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9496-5811)
- Connie S. Schmaljohn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8834-0784)
- Yu Cong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5037-0729)
Institutions
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Antiviral Research
- Published
- 2024-08-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2024.105987
- Primary Topic
- SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- National Institutes of Health
- Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases