With hopes for an­ti­bod­ies wan­ing, the NIH will test No­var­tis part­ner's nov­el an­tivi­ral in hos­pi­tal­ized Covid-19 pa­tients

Af­ter a slew of fail­ures, the NIH’s AC­TIV-3 tri­al for hos­pi­tal­ized Covid-19 pa­tients has earned its rep­u­ta­tion as a grave­yard for big-name an­ti­bod­ies. Now, with its op­tions run­ning out, the NIH is turn­ing to a No­var­tis-backed an­ti­body al­ter­na­tive — but is this déjà vu all over again?

Mol­e­c­u­lar Part­ners and part­ner No­var­tis will try out their “trispe­cif­ic” DARPin an­tivi­ral enso­vibep in AC­TIV-3, the hos­pi­tal­ized mild-to-mod­er­ate pa­tient arm of the NIH’s AC­TIV “mas­ter pro­to­col” against Covid-19, the pair said Mon­day.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER