EID Seminar Series - Intranasal administration of pan-influenza and pan-corona monoclonal antibodies as primary protection against epidemic and pandemic infections

The biggest pandemic threats to date originate from human-to-human transmission of influenza and coronaviruses. Long-term effective passive and active immunization strategies against these viruses that show antigenic shift and drift, remain a challenge. We developed a series of pan-influenza and pan-corona monoclonal antibodies that protect against most, if not all animal and human viruses from these families. Intranasal administration of such antibodies was shown in experimental animals to be more effective than administration by the intravenous or intramuscular route at much lower dosages. We show that this strategy is effective against pandemic threats such as H5N1 and SARS-CoV-2.