The two companies Neurimmune and Ethris want to develop jointly an immunotherapy in which the therapeutic mRNA is transported directly into the lungs by inhalation so as to induce the production there of neutralising antibodies. Their hope is that local administration in the lung will be of significant therapeutic value.

Neurimmune will use its technology platform to identify human antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in immune cells from recovered corona patients. The active neutralising antibodies will then be transferred into a therapeutic agent from Ethris for inhalation. The plan is for the mRNA to make the cells in the lung produce high local concentrations of specific antibodies which will neutralise the SARS-CoV-2 corona virus locally.

According to their announcement, the two companies will be sharing both the costs and the revenue for their joint R&D activities. They are expecting to be able to start manufacturing the active ingredient for the clinical trial in the summer. The first product candidate should then be tested in the fourth quarter of 2020 following consultation with the regulatory approval body.

Dr. Carsten Rudolph, CSO of Ethris, explains, “This joint venture is motivated by the world-wide need for a treatment. It is our joint aim to make a treatment available to doctors and carers to enable them to fight this disease everywhere in the world. We are two firms among many that want to use innovation and speed to make a valuable contribution to containing this pandemic.” The founding of Ethris has been funded by the BMBF as part of its GO-Bio funding initiative.