August 9, 2022
An antibody therapy developed in collaboration with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF) and based on the original work of Christopher Broder, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and colleagues, will be given through compassionate use to two people in Queensland, Australia, who were in close contact with a horse infected with the deadly Hendra virus, that was later euthanized.
Broder and collaborators developed the m102.4 human monoclonal antibody, the first and only known treatment against the highly pathogenic Hendra virus. The m102.4 human monoclonal antibody, provided by HJF and USU, was urgently administered through compassionate use in 2010 to individuals in Australia. In 2010, the cell line that produces the m102.4 human monoclonal antibody was gifted to the Australian Government for the purpose of producing it in the event of further compassionate use needs with the understanding that it would be provided to other parties should emergency use be justified.
Since 2010 a total 16 individuals have received prophylactic high-dose m102.4 on compassionate grounds following high exposure to Hendra virus (15 individuals in Australia) or Nipah virus (one individual in the USA). In 2018, during a Nipah virus outbreak in India, and again in 2021, doses of the m102.4 produced in Australia where provided to the Government of India. Hendra and Nipah viruses are closely related members of the paramyxovirus family.
“HJF was key in the deployment and licensing of the m102.4 human monoclonal antibody,” said La Shaun Berrien, Ph.D., HJF’s Vice President of Research Administration and Innovation Management. “Years ago, HJF quickly moved the technology for the antibody treatment forward, and now, we’re able to see that work be of use again during this emergency. The antibody treatment is licensed to Mapp Biopharmaceutical, Inc., continuing the advancement of this important innovation.”