Adagio gets a second chance

A month ago the future looked bleak for Adagio Therapeutics. Today the company has a chance at resurrection, with surprisingly positive data from the pivotal Stamp and Evade trials of its Covid antibody adintrevimab (ADG20) that had been unblinded early. Still, there are reasons to be cautious about adintrevimab’s chances in the current Covid climate. The studies, in the treatment and prophylaxis settings, appeared to show some evidence of efficacy against the Omicron variant – albeit in small exploratory analyses. But there are questions about how the antibody will perform against the BA.2 subvariant, which is fast becoming dominant. Notably, a recent Nature Medicine paper found that adintrevimab was inactive against BA.2 in vitro. It was BA.2 that did for Glaxosmithkline and Vir’s Xevudy, which had initially looked good against Omicron – last week, the FDA stopped its use in areas where the subvariant is prevalent. Adagio is “re-engineering” adintrevimab to improve efficacy against Omicron, but in the meantime will file for US emergency use authorisation for both treatment and prophylaxis in the second quarter. Shares surged 43% this morning, but the group is still only worth a tenth of what it once was.