Using Active Surveillance to Identify Monoclonal Antibody Candidates Among COVID-19–Positive Veterans in the Atlanta VA Health Care System

Abstract

an orally admin- istered prodrug of N-hydroxycytidine (NHC, EIDD-1931), a nucleoside with broad antiviral activity against a range of RNA viruses. MOV acts by driving viral error catastrophe following its incorporation by the viral RdRp into the viral genome. Given its mechanism of action, MOV activity should not be affected by substitu- tions in the spike protein present in SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern which impact efficacy of therapeutic neutralizing antibodies and vaccine induced immunity. We characterized MOV activity against variants by assessing antiviral activity in vitro and virologic response from the Phase 2/3 clinical trials (MOVe-In, MOVe-Out) for treatment of COVID-19. Methods. MOV activity against several SARS-CoV-2 variants, was evaluated in an in vitro infection assay. Antiviral potency of NHC (IC50) was determined in Vero E6 cells infected with virus at MOI ~0.1 by monitoring CPE. Longitudinal SARS- CoV-2 RNA viral load measures in participants enrolled in MOVe-In and MOVe-Out were analyzed based on SARS-CoV-2 genotype. Sequences of SARS-CoV-2 from study participants were amplified from nasal swabs by PCR and NGS was performed on samples with viral genome RNA of >22,000