Integral Molecular Adds Omicron to its Panel of 68 SARS-CoV-2 Reporter Virus Variants to Assess the Effectiveness of Vaccines and Therapeutics

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Integral Molecular has developed the most extensive catalog of 68 variant SARS-CoV-2 Reporter Virus Particles (RVPs), now including Omicron, allowing researchers to safely test the ability of vaccines and therapeutic antibodies to neutralize this yet uncharacterized viral threat.

Integral Molecular's RVPs are "pseudoviruses" that lack the viral components required to cause disease. SARS-CoV-2 RVPs are safe to use under standard laboratory conditions, are amenable to high-throughput screening, and eliminate the need to use live virus for testing the neutralizing effects of antibodies and vaccines. The company has developed SARS-CoV-2 RVPs for all variants of concern and interest as classified by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO).

"With at least 32 mutations in the Omicron Spike protein, scientists are racing to understand how well vaccines and therapeutic antibodies will protect against this variant," said Hayley Crawford, PhD, Virologist at Integral Molecular. "Omicron RVPs will allow scientists to safely and quickly assess the neutralizing abilities of these treatments to determine how likely they are to be effective." Integral Molecular is the industry leader in supplying reporter viruses to the biopharmaceutical industry for vaccine testing, drug discovery, and research for over 10 years.

The FDA has requested that developers of therapeutic antibodies keep abreast of new circulating variants and provide data about the effectiveness of their antibodies in neutralizing them. Variant SARS-CoV-2 RVPs have been used to extensively profile antibodies, including Immunome's 3-antibody cocktail IMM-BCP-01, which was recently submitted to the FDA as an Investigational New Drug (IND). Immunome reports that this powerful cocktail neutralized all variant RVPs that were tested, including Delta, Alpha, Beta and Gamma (Nikitin et al., bioRxiv, 2021).

To order Omicron SARS-CoV-2 RVPs for testing antibodies or vaccine responses please contact Integral Molecular at [email protected].

About Integral Molecular

Integral Molecular (integralmolecular.com) is the industry leader in developing and applying innovative technologies that advance the discovery of therapeutics against difficult protein targets. With 20 years of experience focused on membrane proteins and antibodies, Integral Molecular's technologies have been integrated into the drug discovery pipelines of over 400 biotech and pharmaceutical companies to help discover new therapies for cancer, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and viral threats such as SARS-CoV-2, Ebola, Zika, and dengue viruses.

Press Contact:
Integral Molecular, Inc.
Soma Banik, PhD, Director of Communications
215-966-6061
[email protected]  
www.integralmolecular.com

SOURCE Integral Molecular