COVID-19 Treatment and Vaccine Combination Shows Positive Results In Pre-Clinical Studies

A synthetic peptide has demonstrated effectiveness as a combination treatment and vaccine to COVID-19 by halting infection of SARS-CoV-2 in laboratory studies.

In addition to being an effective inhibitor of infection, the synthetic peptide, SARS-BLOCK, developed by Ligandal (San Francisco, CA, USA) has high affinity with neutralizing antibodies, enabling it to enhance the immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The results indicate that SARS-BLOCK shows real promise as a combination treatment and vaccine to COVID-19.

Ligandal has modeled its approach by addressing the specific microbiological characteristics of the virus, rather than repurposing existing technology. In order to meet the threat of SARS-CoV-2, the company has come up with a completely new, specifically tailored response that has allowed it to develop a combination treatment and vaccine. This approach utilizes peptide scaffolds (think of them as nanorobots) that are designed with supercomputing and AI to mimic the critical immune binding and responsive elements of the virus, in addition to being designed to serve as rapid-response antidotes to an ongoing infection. In essence, this approach is expected to aid in eliminating the virus from an already-infected host, while bolstering the immune response.

In other words, the approach creates vaccines and antidotes against SARS-CoV-2, whereby the damage of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 is offset, and whereby the viral immune cloaking mechanisms of the virus are eliminated, while the peptides simultaneously display immuno-epitopes in order to instill an ultra-specific immune response, in comparison to existing vaccine and therapeutic options which may not adequately form an immune response, and frequently treat symptomatic conditions without addressing the root cause of viral propagation and infection.

In the present instance, Ligandal mimics the viral binding elements of SARS-CoV-2 to competitively displace ACE2 from the spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD), in order for the virus to no longer display what the company hypothesizes to be an ACE2 “cloak” from the immune system, while also offsetting the need for alternative therapeutic solutions, because the peptide scaffolds will expose the virus for the host’s own immune system to learn and deal with while also presenting key B cell and T cell epitopes for bolstering immune response. This approach is fully synthetic, which lends itself to rapid prototyping, personalized approaches for various viruses, and scale-up on the order of days or weeks instead of years.

“Our results so far have been very positive. We’ve demonstrated SARS-BLOCK inhibits ACE2 cellular entry of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. We have also established that SARS-BLOCK prevents infection of ACE2-expressing cells by the virus. We’re grateful for the work Professor Stroud and his team have done in helping us understand the efficacy of SARS-BLOCK,” said Andre Watson, CEO and Founder of Ligandal. “The next step is for us to test SARS-BLOCK in animals and humans. If trials of SARS-BLOCK prove successful, we expect to move to mass market manufacturing within 18 months. Our innovative, distributed manufacturing process means we will be able to respond to global demand very quickly.”

“This is groundbreaking science. In 2007, Nobel Prize Winner Professor Rolf Zinkernagel hypothesized synthetic peptides could be used to inhibit viral infection and elicit an immune response. 13 years later, Ligandal’s synthetic peptide, SARS-BLOCK, appears to have done exactly that,” said Adam Hamdy, a medical industry consultant and author, who recently joined Ligandal’s advisory board. “SARS-BLOCK has significant advantages over other vaccines and therapies in development. It was designed to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 at a genetic level, and the results suggest it is effective at doing so. SARS-BLOCK is 100% room temperature stable and therefore can be easily deployed globally to any setting. We’re feeling very positive about both the cost and availability of the treatment.”

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