COVID-19 antibody therapeutics tracker: a global online database of antibody therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19

Abstract

Facing the COVID-19 global healthcare crisis, scientists worldwide are collaborating to develop prophylactic and therapeutic interventions against the disease. Antibody therapeutics hold enormous promise for the treatment of COVID-19. In March 2020, the Chinese Antibody Society, in collaboration with The Antibody Society, initiated the "COVID-19 Antibody Therapeutics Tracker" ("Tracker") (https://chineseantibody.org/covid-19-track/) program to track the antibody-based COVID-19 interventions in preclinical and clinical development globally. The data are collected from the public domain and verified by volunteers on an ongoing basis. Here, we present exploratory data analyses and visualization to demonstrate the latest trends of COVID-19 antibody development, based on data for over 150 research and development programs and molecules included in the "Tracker" as of 8 August 2020. We categorized the data mainly by their targets, formats, development status, developers and country of origin. Although details are limited in some cases, all of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody candidates appear to target the viral spike protein (S protein), and most are full-length monoclonal antibodies. Most of the current COVID-19 antibody therapeutic candidates in clinical trials are repurposed drugs aimed at targets other than virus-specific proteins, while most of these virus-specific therapeutic antibodies are in discovery or preclinical studies. As of 8 August 2020, eight antibody candidates targeting the SARS-CoV-2 S protein have entered clinical studies, including LY-CoV555, REGN-COV2, JS016, TY027, CT-P59, BRII-196, BRII-198 and SCTA01. Ongoing clinical trials of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies will help define the utility of these antibodies as a new class of therapeutics for treating COVID-19 and future coronavirus infections.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; clinical trial; neutralizing antibody; online database; spike (S) protein.

Figure 1

Analysis of targets and formats of the therapeutics under development for COVID-19. (A) Targets of therapeutic antibodies under development for treating COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 represents the targets that are SARS-CoV-2 virus specific but unspecified. Only the top five targets by amounts are shown, the rest were populated in “Others,” such as IL-1, IL-12, IL-17, C5, C5a, PD-1, 4-1BB, P-selectin, etc. (B) The formats for therapeutics under development for treating COVID-19. MAb represents the conventional full-length IgG, including the chimeric Abs. Polyclonal Abs represents purified polyclonal Abs from immunized transgenic animals or transiently transfected cells, which originally derived from swine, transgenic cow, ostrich, avian and human. “Others” include one non-antibody recombinant protein (rhACE2), and DARPin, mRNA-encoding mAb and radiotherapeutic formats. The number of programs for each target and format are shown, followed by the proportion to the total number of all programs in paraphrase. Figure 1 is based on “Tracker” data as of 8 August 2020.

Figure 2

Development status of COVID-19 therapeutic antibodies. (A) Distribution of program development status for COVID-19 therapeutic antibodies in development globally. The status is categorized into discovery, preclinical, clinical pending, Phase 1, Phase1/2, Phase 1/2/3, Phase 2, Phase 2/3, Phase 3 and approved. Studies are categorized into discovery (in screening stage without any timeline given for the start of clinical testing) and preclinical (clinical testing planned) based on an estimate of how soon clinical testing may be started. (B) Stacked bar chart showing the status of antibody therapeutics development by country. The status of clinical trials is color-coded from dark blue (the earliest phase) to dark red (the latest phase). For therapeutic candidates being developed across multiple countries, each participating country has been counted separately in this chart. Figure 2 is based on “Tracker” data as of 8 August 2020.