Memo Therapeutics AG Publishes Study on its Potent Antibody for Treatment of BKPyV Infection in Kidney Transplantation
Schlieren / Zurich, Switzerland, 22 July, 2025 – Memo Therapeutics AG (“MTx”), a late-stage biotech company translating unique immune responses into superior medicines to treat viral infections and cancer, has published preclinical data in PLOS Pathogens demonstrating the discovery and characterization of its lead clinical asset, potravitug, a highly potent human monoclonal antibody, neutralizing all four serotypes of BK polyomavirus (“BKPyV”).
The study demonstrates potravitug’s therapeutic potential to treat BKPyV infection in kidney transplant recipients, emphasizing the antibody’s high neutralization potency with IC50 values in the low picomolar range against the most prevalent BKPyV serotypes.
The full publication can be accessed here: https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1013122
Christoph Esslinger, CSO and Co-Founder of MTx said, “This publication demonstrates the power of MTx’s proprietary DROPZYLLA® antibody discovery platform to identify highly effective neutralizing antibodies and validates its potential for addressing diverse viral infections and cancer.”
Erik van den Berg, CEO of MTx added, “The exceptional potency and broad serotype coverage, positions potravitug as a potentially transformative treatment for BKPyV infections, which can have devastating consequences for transplant recipients.”
MTx will be presenting interim results from its placebo-controlled Phase II clinical trial evaluating potravitug for the treatment of BKPyV infection in kidney transplant recipients at the World Transplant Congress in San Francisco, USA, 2-6 August 2025.
More than 100,000 kidney transplants are conducted worldwide every year. BKPyV can become reactivated in up to 50% of these patients and up to 70% of patients with BKPyV viremia develop BK polyomavirus associated nephropathy. Due to the lack of effective approved targeted therapies, current standard of care relies on reducing immunosuppression, which significantly increases the risk of kidney rejection and patient death.
The Company recently published a proof-of-concept study in Frontiers in Pharmacology, demonstrating that therapeutic IgG1 antibodies, such as potravitug, can effectively cross the kidney filtration barrier and reach infected cells, supporting the viability of antibody-based interventions for renal infections.