Oncimmune and Medicines Discovery Catapult collaborate on research tool for Covid-19

Global immunodiagnostics group Oncimmune Holdings has been awarded funding from the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to support its work with the Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) on a programme targeting Covid-19 patients and how they respond to certain treatments.

The IMPACTT programme will place a focus on enabling better treatment selection for Covid-19 patients according to their immune profile.  It will collect samples and clinical data from 3,000 UK Covid-19 patients to be studied by Oncimmune to develop and validate an Infectious Disease NavigAID panel of biomarkers that can be used in research against the virus.

The research tool will be designed to predict both likely patient response to the virus and effectiveness of vaccines and treatment against it.  The programme will analyse how the immune system response to Covid-19, with patients being stratified into three categories of response to the virus - mild, moderate and severe.

Oncimmune currently has over 800 SARS-CoV-2 related antigens and peptides for profiling Covid-19 patients and predicting their response to vaccines and therapeutics against the virus.

MDC will be responsible for collecting patient samples and has been essential in setting up the UK government’s hub for medicines research, alongside the Lighthouse Lab Network.

The data gathered from this programme, alongside the NavigAID panel, will be used to test, evaluate and optimise novel therapies to mitigate the effects of this virus.

Alok Sharma, Business Secretary said: “Our scientists and researchers are at the forefront of global efforts to better understand Covid-19 and  have been working tirelessly to identify new and innovative therapies that will save lives. By backing this pioneering project, we are ensuring that the best therapeutic approaches can be offered  to the right patients at the right time.”

Dr Adam M Hill, CEO of Oncimmune said: "As the Covid-19 pandemic moves from the immediate challenge of developing novel diagnostics, we  are now entering a phase where the world needs to better understand this disease in infected patients  in order to optimise therapeutic outcomes. Oncimmune has been in discussion for some months now  to utilise its differentiated technical knowledge to develop a comprehensive diagnostic tool capable of  characterising the immune system’s response to COVID-19 and, as a consequence, being able to better  predict patient symptom severity and treatment response. Together with MDC, this programme is now  underway, and will shortly be ready to optimise the first wave of novel therapeutic approaches to  preventing and treating this disease.

“Once completed, this dedicated Infectious Disease NavigAID panel will be a critical resource for  biopharmaceutical companies in their development of biologic medicines and vaccines against Covid-19. At the same time, Oncimmune will be developing an important biobank and knowledge resource in  the UK which will enable a greater understanding of which therapy should be used when, and in whom”.