SORRENTO DEVELOPS STI-4398 (COVIDTRAP PROTEIN) FOR POTENTIAL PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF SARS-COV-2 CORONAVIRUS DISEASE (COVID-19) - Seite 2

STI-4398 has been engineered to have a prolonged half-life in the human blood circulation, which may allow it to be used prophylactically to confer short-term and durable passive immunity (with repeated doses) to those that are regularly exposed to the virus (healthcare workers) or are at particular risk following an exposure event (elderly, patients with hypertension or immune-compromised patients).

In vitro cell studies for SARS-CoVID-2 virus infection and neutralization are expected to be conducted in the next few weeks in collaboration with world-leading coronavirus experts.

Sorrento scientists are in parallel working speedily to generate a stable CHO (Chinese Hamster Ovary) manufacturing cell line that would enable high-yield cGMP production of the COVIDTRAP fusion protein. Sorrento’s approximately 300,000 square feet of state-of-the-art R&D and cGMP facilities in San Diego, CA and Suzhou, China are dedicated to therapeutic antibodies and protein production and cell therapies, as well as its fill-and-finish cGMP facilities. These existing manufacturing infrastructures and capacity are available for rapid and significant scaled-up manufacturing to meet emergency demand following successful human trials. Sorrento currently anticipates it will complete the enabling studies for an expedited IND filing in the next few months.

“The COVIDTRAP candidate product developed by our scientists in the past month follows the similar approach we take to developing immune-oncology products for suppressing and/or killing off cancer cells by targeting specific tumor targets on cancer cells. We believe the same approach works for deadly viral diseases,” stated Dr. Henry Ji, Chairman and CEO of Sorrento Therapeutics. “Our immuno-therapy expertise is relevant and applicable to the COVID-19 disease. We are looking forward to quickly demonstrating our COVIDTRAP’s safety and efficacy in IND-enabling preclinical studies and clinical trials and make this potentially life-saving medicine available in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.”

About Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. 

Sorrento is a clinical stage, antibody-centric, biopharmaceutical company developing new therapies to treat cancers. Sorrento's multimodal multipronged approach to fighting cancer is made possible by its extensive immuno-oncology platforms, including key assets such as fully human antibodies (“G-MAB library”), clinical stage immuno-cellular therapies (“CAR-T”, “DAR-T”), intracellular targeting antibodies (“iTAbs”), antibody-drug conjugates (“ADC”), and clinical stage oncolytic virus (“Seprehvir”).