On June 11, 2020, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN) announced that the journal Science has accepted for publication two papers describing the creation of Regeneron’s novel two-antibody cocktail, REGN-COV2, and its potential to diminish risk of viral escape by effectively binding to the virus's critical spike protein in two separate, non-overlapping locations. The publications will be available online on Monday, June 15. On June 11, 2020, Regeneron also announced that REGN-COV2 has entered human clinical trials (https://investor.regeneron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/regeneron-begins-first-clinical-trials-anti-viral-antibody). "Our work inventing novel antibodies has shown that individual antibodies, no matter how good, are likely not enough against the devastating virus that causes COVID-19 and the ways it seeks to 'escape' being neutralized," said George D. Yancopoulos, MD, PhD, Co-Founder, President, and Chief Scientific Officer at Regeneron. "The concept that drug cocktails can prevent viral escape has previously been demonstrated for traditional antiviral drugs used to treat HIV and other viruses. We now report the fundamental realization that this can also be true for antibody-based therapies, supporting our hope that our REGN-COV2 cocktail can be a potent weapon against COVID-19, while preventing the emergence of viral drug-resistance." The first Science article paper, entitled "High-Throughput Effort Using Both Humanized Mice and Convalescent Humans Yields SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Cocktail," describes Regeneron's parallel efforts using both humanized VelocImmune® mice and blood samples from recovered COVID-19 patients to generate a large and diverse collection of antibodies targeting multiple different regions of the critical receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.Login Or Register To Read Full Story