BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing innovative products for infectious diseases and other illnesses, signed an agreement with the Max Planck Society, and the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), both in Germany, to collaborate on the development of innovative nanosized antibodies (NanoAbs). BiondVax will have an exclusive option for an exclusive worldwide license for further development and commercialization of each NanoAb generated.
 
The NanoAbs previously developed by BiondVax’s collaborators exhibit several valuable advantages over existing therapies including strong binding affinity, stability at high temperatures, and potential for more effective and convenient routes of administration. The collaboration targets indications such as psoriasis, asthma, macular degeneration, and psoriatic arthritis. As with the previously announced exclusive license agreement for development of an inhaled COVID-19 therapeutic NanoAb, these are all diseases with known and validated antibody drug targets, which should shorten development timelines while increasing probability for drug approval, according to the company. 
 
Leveraging its capabilities, NanoAbs can be mass-produced through recombinant protein manufacturing in sites such as BiondVax’s GMP biologics manufacturing facility in Jerusalem. Development of NanoAbs covered under today’s agreement has already begun, and initial preclinical results are expected in 2023. BiondVax anticipates conducting a preclinical proof of concept study of inhaled COVID-19 NanoAbs in 2022 with initial human clinical trials results in 2023.
 
The initial NanoAb blueprints are extracted from small blood samples of immunized alpacas, then selected and optimized in laboratories before being used for NanoAb production in large fermenters. The NanoAbs exhibit potential to serve as highly attractive therapies for diseases including COVID-19.
 
NanoAbs are also known as VHH-antibodies or nanobodies. Nanobody is a trademark registered by ABLYNX N.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sanofi. BiondVax has no affiliation with and is not endorsed by Sanofi.