On Apr. 30, 2020, Evotec announced that its Seattle-based subsidiary Just – Evotec Biologics hasd entered into a partnership with Ology Bioservices for the evaluation and analytical characterisation of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.This work fell under a contract awarded to Ology Bio by the Department of Defense Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Enabling Biotechnologies to develop, and manufacture monoclonal antibodies for treatment and prevention of infections with SARS-CoV-2.

This work is supported by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs with funding from the Defense Health Agency.  Under the terms of the agreement, Just – Evotec Biologics will act as a subcontractor to Ology Bio and utilise its in silico toolset to screen a panel of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies provided by Ology Bio that were generated from convalescing COVID-19 patients. Just – Evotec Biologics’ Abacus™ and analytical toolsets will help to filter these antibodies into a smaller set with predicted desirable characteristics for manufacturing and long term storage. Once the final antibody panel has been selected and produced at a small scale by Ology Bio, material will be sent to Just – Evotec Biologics for evaluation of biophysical properties and potential post-translational modifications.

Rapid evaluation of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody candidates will improve the quality of antibody therapeutics selected through this contract and provide confidence to proceed with large-scale manufacturing.