Celltrion said that it plans to accelerate the development of an inhalable cocktail treatment combining Regkirona and CT-P63 to actively respond to variants that can develop into a dominant species.

Cocktail therapy is a method of increasing efficacy by mixing two or more drugs.

Celltrion has tried to develop an inhaled antibody treatment considering convenience and economic feasibility to diversify its antibody treatment platform since the early phases of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company plans to end a separate global phase 1 clinical trial by the end of the year for CT-P63, which has the best ability to respond to variant cases. It now intends to promote the combination of CT-P63 with an inhalational formulation of Regkirona, currently under development.

Notably, the company expects that CT-P63 will show a robust neutralizing ability against Omicron as it has confirmed through recent structural analysis that the virus antigen-binding site does not overlap with the mutation site of the Omicron, now emerging as a global concern.

Celltrion will conduct a neutralizing ability test of the antibody against the Omicron variant as soon as possible and plan to discuss with relevant drug regulators on running a follow-up clinical trial of an inhalable cocktail treatment combining Regkirona and CT-P63.

The company stressed that the inhaling type has the virus-neutralizing ability through antigen binding to the spike site, the primary mechanism of action of the antibody, and a trapping mechanism where the inhaled antibody adheres to the respiratory mucosa and filters the virus entering through the respiratory tract.

Also, Celltrion has confirmed that the inhaled version has dosing convenience, superior to the intravenous injection type in the rate of antibody delivery through the lungs.

The company expects that the successful development of the inhalation type of the Regkirona and CT-P63 cocktail antibody will be a more excellent therapeutic agent for resolving various variants cases that may occur in the future.

“We are keeping an eye on the spread of various variant viruses, such as Omicron while focusing on the supply of Regkirona, which has already confirmed its ability to respond to the Delta variant,” a company official said.

Celltrion will do its best to contribute to preventing the global spread of the Covid-19 virus by focusing its development capabilities on Regkirona and the cocktail inhalation type of Regkirona and CT-P63.”