Anti-Rabies HuMab Rabies Therapy

Rabies is a potentially lethal viral infection transmitted primarily by the bite of an infected animal. While mainly prevented by vaccines in the developed world, rabies is endemic in Asia and Africa. Uncontrolled infections cause brain inflammation and manifestation of symptoms is followed by fatal outcomes. Worldwide rabies caused about 17,400 deaths in 2015, about 40% of which were in children. In India and other parts of Southeast Asia where rabies is endemic, immune equine IgG is administered, but there is a cost-effective need for improved sources of immune IgG to clear infected individuals.  LIMR scientists cloned a set of six (6) huMabs from infected human individuals that recognize rabies and efficiently clear the infection in an animal model. These huMab offer an opportunity for a novel passive vaccine to clear rabies in infected individuals.

The LIMR huMab exhibit high potency and effective viral clearance in animals. Unlike immune equine IgG that is currently used as a passive vaccine, these huMab offer defined structural and biological characteristics and can be propagated indefinitely. 

Employing this invention, clearance of rabies in an infected patient that may be safer and more cost effective than existing passive vaccines obtained from equine sources.  

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