Lumen Bioscience—a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing biologic drugs for highly prevalent diseases—today announced new development funding from the US Army for its Covid-19 monoclonal antibody drug cocktail. The support is provided by the US Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC), operating through the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC).
This announcement builds on a previous Army grant to Lumen that funded preclinical development of LMN-301, an investigational product directed at treating and preventing the gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations of Covid-19. These symptoms are an important aspect of the disease but have received less attention than the respiratory and immunological aspects due to the lack of scalable technologies for treating such infections. Lumen’s spirulina-based GMP manufacturing and delivery technology is uniquely suited for such applications.
“Everyone knows about the respiratory symptoms of Covid-19, but it’s less well appreciated among non-specialists that a majority of patients also endure GI-related issues, which can be quite severe,” said Brian Finrow, Lumen’s co-founder and CEO. “A therapeutic targeting this source of infection could reduce the viral load, inhibit disease progression, and potentially eliminate a significant source of disease transmission. Our unique biologics platform is the first to potentially allow for the cost-effective manufacturing of therapeutic proteins at pandemic scale, so we’re pleased to have this opportunity to contribute to the fight against Covid-19.
