Following discussions held under the authority of the Vietnamese Minister of Health, Trân Van Thuân, the Nantes-based company XENOTHERA, which is developing an anti-SARS-CoV-2 polyclonal antibody, and the largest Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, have just signed a memorandum of understanding.
The MOU focuses on cooperation in Phase III clinical trials, commercialization, and partial transfer of production of the XAV-19 drug candidate.
The two companies have agreed to work together to establish a long-term strategic partnership.
The signing of the memorandum of understanding took place on Thursday 9 September in Brussels in the presence of the Vietnamese government delegation, led by the President of the National Assembly of Vietnam, Mr Vuong Dinh Huê. Mrs. Odile Duvaux, President of XENOTHERA, and Mr. Anh Hoa, General Director of Vinhomes, a subsidiary of Vingroup, signed the document.
The two companies will work together, initially, on a phase III clinical trial to be conducted in Vietnam, which will complement the data from the European EUROXAV trial already underway launched in December by the biotech XENOTHERA. In addition, discussions are underway to market XAV-19 in Vietnam under distribution by Vingroup, and to transfer part of the drug’s production.
In initial discussions with the Vietnamese government, Deputy Health Minister Trân Van Thuân said Vietnam was ready to cooperate in clinical trials of the treatment to treat COVID-19 patients in the country.
For her part, Odile Duvaux, President of XENOTHERA, said she was ready to cooperate in conducting Phase III trials in Vietnam and expressed her willingness to discuss a technology transfer for part of the XAV-19 production.
The anti-COVID XAV-19 treatment is based on a unique technology for producing protective polyclonal antibodies directed against the virus.
The Nantes-based biotech identified the value of the technology back in 2015, and identified coronaviruses as a strategic target at that time. XAV19 has strong virus neutralization power, and is active on all currently circulating variants. This treatment is intended for patients suffering from moderate Covid; it aims to block the worsening of the disease and the transition to a severe form, and in particular to avoid a
transfer to intensive care.
XAV-19 is currently undergoing clinical trials in France (POLYCOR trial) and also in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Spain with the EUROXAV trial. This promising treatment was preordered by the French government in May 2021 for the first 30,000 doses. The company was thus able to invest in the industrialization of its production, in collaboration with the Alès plant of LFB, a French biopharmaceutical laboratory.
Once early access authorization (EAA) has been obtained by the French National Authority for Health (HAS) and the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM), the treatment will be available to patients for whom it’s beneficial.
XENOTHERA is also pursuing the development of its other products, in multi-drug resistant diseases, organ transplantation and cancer.