BioDuro is harnessing its world-leading biopharmaceutical expertise to fight the coronavirus pandemic. A specialized team is leveraging the firm’s acclaimed biologics discovery program to find an effective nanobody therapy for Covid-19 patients.

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Human synthetic antibodies screened
The program is sponsored by the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI), which is jointly founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Tsinghua University and Beijing Municipal Government.
BioDuro’s initiative uses advanced synthetic antibody technology to find a way of blocking the virus’s entry and fusion into human cells. This process involves screening more than 10 billion human synthetic antibodies, all generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI) computing and high-speed DNA mutagenesis technology.
The aim of the program is to discover which antibody disrupts the Covid-19 virus most optimally. This will enable scientists to produce a nanobody: an antibody that contains only the single, tiny unit needed for recognition and disruption of Covid-19 targets.
Thanks to their small size, nanobodies are extremely effective at penetrating human tissue – such as when delivered in a spray to the lungs – ensuring a high dose is received.
The dedicated Covid-19 team includes scientists from a wide range of specialisms, including AI, phage display, assay development, protein purification, cell biology and biochemistry.
In a separate initiative, BioDuro has also partnered with the UC San Diego Health System and Scripps Health – a nonprofit health system based in the city – to augment their hospitals’ supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), and produce additional stocks of hand sanitizer.
Headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA, BioDuro is a leading global life-sciences contract research and development organization. The company has cutting-edge facilities in Beijing and Shanghai, China, and a fourth site is under construction in Wuxi.

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