Vaccines

Based on positive results in preclinical studies reported today, potently neutralizing antibodies identified by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center are showing promise as a potential therapy for preventing and treating COVID-19.

In late July, Vanderbilt University Medical Center will begin recruiting up to 1,000 volunteers in a late-stage study of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. in collaboration with the Vaccine Research Center of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health.

An experimental coronavirus vaccine stimulated robust immune responses against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and raised no serious safety concerns in an early-stage clinical trial.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have isolated human monoclonal antibodies that potentially can prevent a rare but devastating polio-like illness in children linked to a respiratory viral infection.

After evaluating the ability of more than 1,500 monoclonal antibodies to bind and neutralize the COVID-19 virus, SARS-CoV-2, in the laboratory, AstraZeneca signed an exclusive license to six candidate antibodies in Vanderbilt’s portfolio.

Vanderbilt Vaccine Center team isolates monoclonal antibodies against Ross River virus, which causes rash, fever and debilitating muscle and joint pain lasting three to six months.

Monoclonal antibodies against Marburg virus — a more lethal cousin of the RNA virus that causes COVID-19 — may aid in the development of antibody “cocktails” to counter viral infection.