Novel antibody-based vaginal film for rapid, on-demand contraception – Shrestha et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
November 30, 2021
In an effort led by Mucommune’s collaborators at UNC-CH and Zab Bio, researchers developed a rapidly dissolving vaginal film releasing a highly potent six-Fab sperm-binding antibody. The novel antibody, with >10-fold greater sperm agglutination potency than conventional 2-Fab IgG, was manufactured using a GMP-compatible production system, and retained full activity after formulating into self-dissolving vaginal film. In a sheep model, no progressively motile human sperm were recovered just two minutes after semen exposure in animals receiving the antibody film, demonstrating the potential for rapid yet highly effective contraceptive effect. Published in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, the study provided an important proof of concept that engineered antibodies can be formulated into a practical vaginal dosage form for convenient, on-demand non-hormonal contraception.
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