On Mar. 2, 2022, Sorrento Therapeutics announced that new preclinical results demonstrated that pretreating an animal with intranasal neutralizing antibody (STI-9199) twenty-four (24) hours prior to being exposed to SARS-CoV-2 virus prevents productive infection in the treated animals.

These data suggested that an individual who is at high risk of exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus could potentially be protected by taking STI-9199 nasal neutralizing antibody. For example, if a member of a household becomes infected, the others in the house could be treated with intranasal STI-9199 to potentially prevent them from being infected. This prevention could work in vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals but needs to be confirmed in clinical studies.

Other potential use cases for this intranasal STI-9199 include pretreatment of front-line healthcare workers, individuals in long-term care facilities or students in schools, where treatment could potentially provide blanket coverage. In addition, travelers on a plane could be pre-treated, which would potentially allow for air and ocean cruise travel with added protection when mask-wearing is not required.