Sinovac Biotech Ltd. to Test Fully Human Antibody Developed by Massachussets Biotech Laboratories and Medarex for its Ability to Neutralize the SARS Virus.
News Editors/Business Editors/High-Tech Writers
BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 26, 2004
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. ("Sinovac") (OTCBB:SNVBF) (Frankfurt:SVQ) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement to conduct pre-clinical testing of a SARS antibody that has been jointly developed by Medarex, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEDX) and the Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories (MBL) of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS).
A sample of the fully human SARS antibody has been sent to Sinovac for testing against SARS strains used for Sinovac's investigational vaccine and the control strain from previous cases in China.
Reacting quickly to contain the recent outbreak of SARS, and to speed research on potential SARS therapies, Sinovac submitted this idea to the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration and received support to test the Medarex/MBL/UMMS antibody before any further action.
Sinovac plans to conduct preclinical tests to determine the antibody's effectiveness in neutralizing the strains of the virus.
On the 9th October 2003, Medarex/MBL announced they had neutralized the SARS virus in non-human tissue cultures. The breakthrough was accomplished using antibodies from genetically engineered mice immunized with a protein the SARS virus uses to infect cells. Researchers believe this advance may lead to treatments to prevent infection with SARS after individuals have been exposed to the virus, and potentially to therapeutic products to treat those already infected. Thus, these antibodies are potential therapeutics unlike Sinovac's proprietary SARS vaccine - which is intended to treat against infection by the SARS virus.
"When faced with an outbreak of a deadly infectious disease like SARS, those with a public health mission need to move fast," said Donna Ambrosino, MD, Director of the MBL and a Professor of Pediatrics at UMass Medical School. "When the request was made to us, we were able to ship the antibody within hours."
The antibody developed by MBL and Medarex is the result of an accelerated research effort funded by the National Institutes of Health that was launched in April of 2003 following the first global outbreak of SARS. To date, the antibody developed by MBL and Medarex has shown great promise in laboratory tests in the United States.
