Scientists use alpaca antibodies to make new pandemic flu drug
Antibodies taken from alpacas are to be used in a new pandemic flu drug, in a £33 million project led by AstraZenica.
If successful, the trial could 'usher in a new era' of affordable antibody therapies to protect against dangerous infectious diseases as diverse as Mers, Ebola and mpox.
The use of man-made monoclonal antibodies to target and neutralise viruses and some cancers has accelerated in recent years but has proved clunky and expensive.
The new project, funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (Cepi), aims to overcome this by using VHH antibodies or 'nanobodies' which are more potent, more precise and more stable.
They are also considerably more exotic; derived from a narrow group of animals including camels, llamas and several species of shark.
In the trial led by AstraZeneca, scientists will immunise alpacas with four strains of pandemic flu. They will then extract the protective antibodies that the animals produce in response, and use them to create potential new protective drugs for humans.
It is thought to be the first time that VHH antibodies from alpacas have been used to develop therapies against dangerous viruses.
Assuming they work, it is hoped VHH antibodies will be cheaper to produce and more effective than monoclonal antibodies.
Because they are more potent they can be used in lower concentrations and because they are more stable they may not need to be kept at low temperatures requiring a cold chain.
This feature has also made camel antibodies a candidate for snakebite antivenom.
But critically, VHH antibodies are also much smaller than monoclonal antibodies, allowing them to target parts of a virus that conventional antibodies are unable to attack. Scientists hope this could help solve a major problem: 'virus escape'.
'Prior to [Covid-19], the whole world thought monoclonal antibodies were the answer,' said Dr Stacey Wooden, biologics programme lead at Cepi. 'But we had 30 different monoclonals in clinical trials, and all of them just went away because of omicron.'
The development of a new variant of the virus was a major blow. The mutations found in the omicron strain rendered the treatments ineffective, because the part of Sars-Cov-2 which the therapies targeted had changed. But the previously unreachable areas that VHH antibodies can attack are less susceptible to mutations, said Dr Wooden, potentially avoiding issues with virus escape.
VHH antibodies were first identified in camels in the 1980s, and they have already been used in some therapies to target chronic disease – including cancer and Alzheimer's. But the current project is thought to be the first to use them to target an infectious pathogen.
'This potentially ground-breaking VHH project could usher in a new era of more affordable antibody-based interventions, meaning that vulnerable populations could be protected from future epidemic or pandemic threats,' said Dr Richard Hatchett, chief executive of Cepi.
In the AstraZeneca and Cepi trial, alpaca antibodies will be used to develop a therapy which targets four strains of pandemic influenza – H1, H3, H5 and H7.
'This is a proof-of-concept trial with influenza… but the idea is that we would eventually take this technology and use it for other pathogens,' said Dr Wooden. This could include Nipah virus, Mers, Ebola and mpox.
The therapy is not meant to treat already sick people – instead it would be used as a prophylaxis to prevent infections in the first place, especially among those on the frontlines of a new epidemic or pandemic.
The current proof-of-concept trial will include animal tests in the lab, but there are hopes it will progress into a phase one trial in people as soon as 2027.
AstraZeneca's vice president of early vaccine and immune therapies R&D, Mark Esser, said the project demonstrates the company's commitment to 'pushing the boundaries of science'.
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