Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. announced the release of new data on the Omicron variant neutralizing antibody (nAb) STI-9167, COVISHIELD, an advanced stage antibody discovered and developed for clinical trials in an ongoing collaboration between immunologists and virologists at Sorrento and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ("Icahn Mount Sinai") in New York, NY. Spike protein binding assays and neutralization assays using viruses representing all known SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) have been completed with STI-9167, and this nAb was observed to bind with high affinity and provide highly potent neutralizing activity (Omicron IC50 = 25 ng/ml). Of noted significance, STI-9167 is unique when compared to tests of EUA-approved SARS-CoV-2 nAbs in that binding and neutralization properties are maintained against the emerging Omicron and Omicron (+R346K) variant, an increasingly prevalent Omicron lineage variant that encodes an additional R346K Spike protein mutation.

Additionally, STI-9167 administered at a low dose (5mg/kg) by either the intranasal or intravenous routes provided strong protection against the clinical signs of infection by the Omicron variant in the K18-hAce2 transgenic mouse model of COVID-19, preventing weight loss and reducing virus titers in the lungs to undetectable levels.