Zydus Cadila, an innovation-driven pharmaceutical company, today announced that its biological therapy ZRC-3308, a cocktail of two SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) can emerge as one of the main treatments for mild COVID-19.

SARS-CoV-2 spike protein targeted, neutralizing monoclonal antibody based treatments have received emergency use authorization in mild COVID-19 in the US, Europe and in India because they significantly reduced viral load in mild patients and their rate of hospitalization. Two of these products are cocktail based products consisting of two mAbs binding to two different epitopes on the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Cocktails of 2 mAbs based products are better equipped to deal with variants than single mAb based products which have a tendency of losing their efficacy with rapidly generating variants.

Zydus is the only Indian company to have developed a neutralizing monoclonal antibody based cocktail for the treatment of COVID-19.

Speaking on the development, Dr. Sharvil Patel, Managing Director, Cadila Healthcare Ltd. said, “At this juncture, there is a critical need to explore safer and more efficacious treatments to combat COVID. It is important to look at different stages of the disease progression and look at options that can reduce a patient's suffering and discomfort. We believe that ZRC-3308 has the potential to address these concerns and provide a safe treatment.”

ZRC-3308 is a cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies targeting two unique epitopes on the spike protein of SARS- CoV-2. The monoclonal antibodies of ZRC-3308 have been specifically designed to provide protection for a much longer period of time than the currently approved products. The enhanced design would also help in preventing any further tissue damage and thereby reducing the risk of severe disease.