November 16, 2021
The Kitasato Institute
Kao Corporation
National Institute for Physiological Sciences, National Institutes of Natural Sciences
Epsilon Molecular Engineering, Inc.
Keio University School of Medicine
In May 2020, a research group from The Kitasato Institute (President: Kousuke Kobayashi), the foundation that established Kitasato University; Epsilon Molecular Engineering, Inc. (President & CEO: Naoto Nemoto; hereinafter EME); and Kao Corporation (President and CEO: Yoshihiro Hasebe; hereinafter Kao) successfully obtained VHH antibodies with neutralizing activity against the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).
Now, in addition to the above, a research team joined by The Sakaguchi Laboratory (Organoid Medicine) and the Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, both at the Keio University School of Medicine, and the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, has revealed that intranasal administration of the VHH antibodies can suppress viral replication in the lungs in a hamster model. The efficacy of this method was also confirmed in experiments using human alveolar organoids, also known as "micro-organs." Furthermore, the team elucidated the binding mode of the VHH antibody to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein through cryo-electron microscopy analysis.
These results not only demonstrate the potential of the VHH antibodies obtained in May 2020 to become a therapeutic agent for COVID-19, but they also represent a significant achievement by showing the possibility of treatment via a new administration method—intranasal delivery. This will help expand the range of treatment options for COVID-19. The results of this research have been published in the American scientific journal "PLOS Pathogens."
Please see below for the full press release.