Celltrion Confirms Potential Efficacy of Rekkeona in Treating South African Variant

Virus Reduction Confirmed in Animal Tests for South African Variant
Research Results Submitted to US Journal BBRC... "Additional Tests Underway"

Rekkirona (Photo by Celltrion)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] Celltrion announced on the 29th that it confirmed a reduction in the virus in an animal efficacy test of the COVID-19 antibody treatment 'Rekkirona' against the South African variant virus, conducted in collaboration with domestic and international research institutions.

Celltrion has been conducting antigen binding tests, cell neutralization tests, and animal efficacy evaluations using ferrets, a type of weasel, to assess the clinical efficacy of Rekkirona against the South African variant virus. In this test, Rekkirona was injected into animals infected with the virus, confirming a reduction in the virus and no significant difference in therapeutic effect compared to the wild-type virus. Celltrion submitted these results to the American Journal of Biochemistry and Biophysics Research BBRC on the 28th.

In the cell neutralization test against the South African variant virus, Rekkirona consistently showed reduced neutralizing ability. When ferrets infected with either the wild-type or South African variant virus were administered Rekkirona at human therapeutic dose levels based on drug exposure, no significant difference was observed in the rate of virus reduction in the upper and lower respiratory tracts. This suggests that the reduced neutralizing ability against the South African variant virus observed in the cell neutralization test does not affect the actual virus reduction effect in the respiratory tract at clinical therapeutic doses.

Based on these test results, Celltrion believes that Rekkirona is likely to demonstrate sufficient efficacy in treating COVID-19 patients infected with the South African variant.

A Celltrion official stated, "The reduced neutralizing ability of Rekkirona against the South African variant confirmed through domestic and international research institutions was all based on cell-level tests, so we confirmed the virus reduction effect in animal tests considering actual human doses. Based on these interim results, we will continue additional tests to verify Rekkirona’s effectiveness against the South African variant and proceed without delay in developing new variant-tailored cocktail treatments using candidate antibodies."

Meanwhile, the research results submitted by Celltrion have been made publicly available in pre-print form on 'bioRxiv.' Inclusion in BBRC will be determined through peer review.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.