Overview

The collaboration aims to deliver an antibody therapy for CCHFV that is globally accessible to both civilian and military populations in high-risk areas, with a specific focus on in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where access to antibody therapies remains limited.  

We are contributing over $2 million in funding, alongside scientific and pre-clinical development expertise, while USAMRIID will lead testing in high-containment facilities. 

About the CCHFV antibody project 

Dr. Aura Garrison, Dr. Joseph Golden and their colleagues from USAMRIID discovered the antibody in mice during a study first published in 2019 in Science Advances. With our funding and scientific support, we are working together to develop a fully humanized antibody therapy ready for Investigational New Drug (IND) submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and entry into Phase I clinical trials. 

Building on our successful track record in antibody humanization, we are engineering USAMRIID’s antibody and screening hundreds of humanized variants against different CCHFV strains to identify the most promising antibody.  

We’re running early lab studies to understand how the antibody behaves in the body and whether it’s safe. While our partners at USAMRIID are using their specialist lab to test how well the antibody works in mice infected with CCHFV. The project will also support the development of a biological marker, which is a crucial tool needed for future clinical trials in humans. 

With LifeArc’s financial support (over $2 million), USAMRIID will lead development of the novel CCHFV therapeutic antibody. The project will also support a clinical development roadmap for accessible antibody therapies. This will include early engagement with the World Health Organization, regulatory agencies and endemic countries to establish a target product profile that ensures the therapeutic is suitable for use in LMICs. 

About Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF)

CCHF is a severe, often deadly tick-borne viral disease endemic to parts of Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Asia, with an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 cases annually and mortality rates reaching up to 40%.