MappBio Announces Contract with BARDA for Sudan Virus Medical Countermeasure

SAN DIEGO - Sept. 28, 2018 - PRLog -- Mapp Biopharmaceutical, Inc. (MappBio), announced today that it has been awarded a contract (HHSO100201800024C) of $14.8 million with options for an additional $32.0 million by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to advance MBP134 through a Phase 1 clinical trial.

MBP134 is a combination of two human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) being developed with an initial indication of treatment of disease caused by Sudan virus (Sudan ebolavirus). The mAbs were identified from a survivor of the 2013-2016 Ebola Virus Disease outbreak via a collaboration between a team at Adimab LLC (Lebanon, NH) led by Dr. Laura Walker, a MappBio team led by Dr. Zachary Bornholdt, and a group of academic and government partners that included National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) supported Centers of Excellence for Translational Research at four institutions: Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Einstein), Public Health Agency of Canada, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). These antibodies have demonstrated unprecedented therapeutic efficacy in non-human primate models of Sudan virus infection with only a single dose. MappBio has obtained an exclusive license to develop and commercialize these antibodies from Adimab and Einstein.

Sudan virus is from the same family of viruses as Ebola virus, a strain of which was responsible for the 2013-2016 outbreak in West Africa and the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Like Ebola virus, Sudan virus causes disease characterized by severe hemorrhagic fever and high mortality. "This contract will allow us to advance these molecules to clinical evaluation and to be better prepared for future outbreaks," said Dr. Ellen Monson, Principal Investigator on the contract.

"We are pleased to continue and expand our productive relationship with BARDA, which represents a good example of a public-private partnership that advances much needed therapeutics for infected individuals and the Strategic National Stockpile," said Dr. Kevin J. Whaley, Chief Executive Officer.

Dr. Larry Zeitlin, President, added, "This award is a credit to the productivity and success of the interdisciplinary interinstitutional team, and also highlights the great potential of monoclonal antibodies to address even the most challenging of infectious disease threats to public health."

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About Mapp Biopharmaceutical: MappBio (www.mappbio.com) was founded in 2003 to develop novel pharmaceuticals for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, focusing on unmet needs in global health and biodefense. MappBio is also separately developing ZMapp^TM, a cocktail of mouse-human chimeric monoclonal antibodies for Ebola virus, a different therapy than MBP134.

This project has been funded in part with federal funds from the Department of Defense under Contract No. HDTRA1-13-C-0018; the Department of Health and Human Services' National Institutes of Health (U19AI109711, U19AI109762, HHSN2722011000221) and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, and Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, under Contract No. HHSO100201700023C.