Bacillus anthracis’ major killing factor is its lethal toxin. It therefore stands to reason that antitoxins be developed. However, since this major virulence factor of the anthrax disease is composed of the concerted action of combined toxin components, it makes sense to design a therapy that addresses more than one component, preferably including the deadly component LF. This is the approach that Hero Biotechnology has chosen; the development of an anthrax treatment directed not only at the by itself harmless toxin component PA, but also at the deadly component LF.
This approach, termed the Dual Antibody Approach (DAA) for the treatment of anthrax, increases chances of survival as compared to treatment with one antibody alone. Both antibodies IQNPA and IQNLF can fully neutralize the anthrax lethal toxin and are in vivo efficacious. However, when the two antibodies are combined (IQ-DAA), it was demonstrated that the treatment provided a 5-times improvement of the odds of survival over the IQNPA treatment alone, and a 15-times over IQNLF treatment alone.
With this Dual Antibody Approach, Hero aims to deliver a protective treatment and protection against anthrax with the following advantageous characteristics:
- broad – low risk of circumvention
- secure – low risk of toxin escape
- robust – highly efficacious, also in late stages of disease
- long-term protective – stimulating endogenous immunity to anthrax
- safe – human bio-panned antibodies
