XBiotech and BioBridge Jointly Developing COVID-19 Treatment Based on Natural Antibodies from Recovered Patients

XBiotech Inc. (Austin, TX, USA) and BioBridge Global (San Antonio, TX, USA) have entered into a collaboration to participate in a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigational program for US blood centers to begin collecting and distributing convalescent plasma from individuals who have recovered from COVID-19. XBiotech has developed a clinical test that QualTex Laboratories, a subsidiary of BioBridge Global, will use to identify natural antibodies present in human blood that work against the virus that causes COVID-19. The testing technology will allow QualTex to identify blood that contains naturally neutralizing antibodies against the virus in patients who have recovered from COVID-19 (convalescent donors).

XBiotech is a fully integrated, global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to pioneering the discovery, development and commercialization of therapeutic antibodies. XBiotech currently is advancing a pipeline of therapies based on harnessing naturally occurring antibodies from patients with immunity to certain diseases. The approach to use natural human immunity as a source of new medicines offers the potential to redefine the standards of care a wide range of diseases. BioBridge Global is a non-profit corporation that offers diverse services through its subsidiaries – the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center (STBTC), QualTex Laboratories, GenCure and The Blood & Tissue Center Foundation. BioBridge Global provides products and services in blood resource management, cellular therapy, donated umbilical cord blood and human tissue as well as testing of blood, plasma and tissue products for clients worldwide.

Plasma collected from donors by the STBTC could be used to treat patients with serious and/or life-threatening COVID-19 infections. STBTC will, in return, provide blood samples to XBiotech to enable the development of a candidate True Human antibody therapy for the disease. XBiotech is in the process of transferring the testing technology to QualTex and training its laboratory professionals to perform the assay to enable rapid identification and potential use of the convalescent plasma.

“XBiotech is working to contribute solutions to reducing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Sushma Shivaswamy, Ph.D, XBiotech’s Chief Scientific Officer. “Our unique human antibody technology at XBiotech has been developed specifically to address these kinds of issues. We are humbled to be able to support BioBridge Global in its effort to use human convalescent donor blood to provide remedies for patients hospitalized with this deadly disease. XBiotech will continue to use its technology and resources to support the effort against COVID-19.”

“We are excited to be among the first to be able to provide our blood donors with the opportunity to help COVID-19 patients and their families fight this illness,” said Dr. Rachel Beddard, BioBridge Global Medical Director.

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