November 11, 2020 -- Sorrento Therapeutics is filing an investigational new drug application (IND) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its STI-2099 (Covi-Drops), an intranasal formula of a neutralizing antibody against SARS-CoV-2.
Sorrento will study the safety and pharmacokinetics of Covi-Drops in healthy volunteers and patients with mild COVID-19 in a phase I trial if the agency authorizes the IND.
The drops demonstrated a 100% neutralizing effect in vitro and in vivo. At very low doses, they prevented SARS-CoV-2 from infecting healthy cells and causing COVID-19-like disease in Syrian golden hamsters, according to preclinical data.