PLANET BIOTECHNOLOGY, INC. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-Co
PLANET BIOTECHNOLOGY, INC. — SBIR Phase I award from Department of Health and Human Services.
- Amount
- $225,000
- Agency
- Department of Health and Human Services · National Institutes of Health
- Program / Phase
- SBIR · Phase I
- Solicitation
- PA13-234
- NAICS
- —
- Place of performance
- CA
- Period
- —
Description
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is newly emerging human health threat with a more than 40% case fatality rate. The cell surface protein dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) is used by MERS-CoV to enterand infect cells. Soluble recombinant human DPP4 binds the MERS-CoV spike (S) glycoprotein and inhibits MERS-CoV infection of VERO cells, but the concentration required to achieve 50% inhibition is fairly high. The aim of this project is to design, produceand test a superior inhibior of MERS-CoV infection using a fusion of DPP4 and the Fc of human immunoglobulin. We expect DPP4-Fc to have increased potency due to the stoichiometry of DPP4 in the Fc fusion (two DPP4 binding domains per molecule). DPP4-Fc isalso expected to have superior pharmacokinetics, as Fc will confer a long circulating half-life and the ability to be delivered to airway mucosal surfaces, the site of MERS-CoV infection. Unlike antibodies against MERS-CoV, a DPP4-Fc decoy will not