Aridis Says AR-701 Cocktail Effective Against Omicron, Shares Rise 95% Pre-Market

Aridis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARDS) announced that AR-701, its fully human monoclonal antibody cocktail, is broadly reactive against the Omicron and other COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) variants, as well as a range of other viruses including SARS, MERS, and seasonal common cold human coronaviruses.

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At the time of writing, shares of the biopharmaceutical company almost doubled during the pre-market trading hours on December 21.

Aridis Pharmaceuticals focuses on the discovery and development of novel anti-infective therapies for the treatment of life-threatening infections.

The company stated that the AR-701 cocktail binds to the Omicron variant with similar effectiveness as to the original Wuhan strain viral neutralization. Furthermore, animal infection models support broad prophylaxis and therapeutic efficacy of AR-701 against SARS-CoV-2 and SARS.

More about AR-701

AR-701 is a cocktail of two fully human immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) monoclonal antibody (mAbs) discovered from screening the antibody-secreting B-cells of convalescent SARS-CoV-2 infected (COVID-19) patients.

Aridis CEO Pharmaceuticals, Vu Truong stated, “AR-701 is the result of our successful search for a mAb therapy that is directed against a conserved region of the virus that would be less vulnerable to mutations and new variants such as Omicron. Our laboratory data suggest that AR-701 has the potential to be a future-proof COVID-19 therapy that can protect against SARS-CoV-2, SARS, or MERS pandemics.”

Notably, AR-701 mAbs are engineered to be long-acting for 6-12 months in the blood. AR-701 is being developed as an intramuscular and a self-administered inhaled formulation for the treatment of COVID-19 patients who are not yet hospitalized.

CEO Comments

Vu Truong, commented, “Omicron has rendered current COVID-19 vaccines and monoclonal antibodies substantially less effective, and likely future COVID 19 variants will arise that continue this trend.”

He further highlighted, “To our knowledge AR-701 is the only COVID-19 therapy that targets two distinct viral mechanisms of action, making it much harder for the virus to generate resistance, and exhibits an unmatched combination of broad reactivity and high efficacy.”

Analysts Recommendation

The Wall Street community is cautiously optimistic about the stock, with a Moderate Buy analyst rating based on 2 Buys. The average Aridis Pharmaceuticals price target of $19 implies 648% upside potential to current levels.