Merck and Institute for Systems Biology Initiate Large-Scale COVID-19 Study

 

Merck is entering a collaboration agreement with the Seattle-based Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) to investigate and define the molecular activity of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19, the resulting disease. The intention is to identify targets for drugs and vaccines.

Merck also announced it inked a deal with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). BARDA will provide some of the funding to support the research efforts with ISB.

“This collaboration with Merck provides critical support for the recently launched scientific trial being co-led by ISB and Swedish Medical Center, both part of the Providence St. Joseph Health network,” said Jim Heath, president of ISB.”

He went on to say, “We launched this trial with the urgent need to improve our understanding of COVID-19. By applying the full power of our systems biology capabilities, we hope to gain important insights into the molecular basis for the dramatically contrasting outcomes observed for patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.”

ISB researchers, health care staff from the Swedish Medical Center, and a consortium of research groups and biopharma companies will analyze blood and nasal samples from Swedish Medical Center COVID-19 patients collected at different times—initial presentation, acute disease and convalescence. The groups will study the samples using a variety of proteomic, metabolomic, transcriptomics and genetic techniques to identify possible biomarkers that could be used to predict the risk of severe disease.

They will also work to develop a profile of the immune response, such as quantitative changes in immune cells in patients post-infection and characterize neutralizing antibodies in the convalescent patients. The goal is to develop information to design effective vaccines and antibody therapies.

Merck will provide funding and work with the ISB investigators to develop targets for possible drugs and vaccines. It will start with samples from 200 patients with the option to expand to 300.

The research collaboration will be led by ISB’s Heath and Jason D. Goldman of the Swedish Medical Center. Initial funding was provided by the Wilke Family Foundation, MJ Murdock Charitable Trust, Swedish Foundation, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, and Washington State Andy Hill CARE Fund.

Additional collaborators include Stanford University, Adaptive Biotechnologies, Bloodworks Northwest, Isoplexis, Metabolon, Nanostring, Olink, Providence Molecular Genomics Laboratory, Scisco Genetics and 10x Genomics.

“Understanding the molecular characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and of the immune response to this virus, is essential to the development of effective interventions,” said Roger M. Perlmutter, president, Merck Research Laboratories. “We are eager to advance this work with ISB, and to share our findings with the broader scientific community. Interdicting the COVID-19 pandemic presents a daunting global health challenge, demanding unprecedented collaboration across the international scientific and medical communities to which we are proud to contribute.”

The rationale behind the collaboration is to better understand why some patients become seriously ill while others have milder or no disease. “Each of the COVID-19 patients has a unique lesson to teach us about how the medical and scientific community can respond most effectively to this pandemic,” Heath said.

As such, it really is a two-pronged approach: identify markers to determine which patients are most likely to be affected by severe disease, and to better understand the molecular mechanisms of infection to create effective therapies.

They intend to make the data “rapidly and freely available to the worldwide scientific and biomedical community engaged in the struggle against SARS-CoV-2.”