About Louis Picker
Louis Picker, a professor at Oregon Health and Science University and co-founder and scientific advisor of Vir Biotechnology, has been involved in research on HIV/SIV immunotherapeutics and vaccine development. In a June 2025 presentation, Picker described studies testing the hypothesis that neutralizing antibodies given at the time of antiretroviral therapy release could delay viral rebound in SIV-infected macaques. He stated that while the antibodies significantly delayed rebound, they did not provide enhanced post-treatment viral control or a functional vaccine effect. Picker also discussed a T-cell vaccine targeting the gag protein, which he said delayed viral rebound and reduced post-treatment viral loads, suggesting a need for more aggressive T-cell vaccine approaches.
Picker has also commented on the broader landscape of infectious disease research and vaccine development. In a 2021 interview, he noted that the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines was enabled by long-term investments in vaccine and gene therapy research, and he expressed support for continued and increased investment in vaccine science. He has described his work on a cytomegalovirus (CMV)-based vector for HIV as showing durable efficacy in monkey models, with protection lasting over six years in some cases. Picker has stated that a human CMV vector is being developed for clinical trials through Vir Biotechnology.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Louis Picker's recent appearances.
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Transcript (6 segments)
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Interviewer0:00
George, it's nice to see you. Thanks for joining us today on news of this billion dollars worth of contracts with the U.S. government. You know, Dom mentioned the stock move over the last two months, and I think what a lot of investors are wondering about the antibody drugs now is, as these antiviral pills are working their way through the FDA, what role do your drugs play, the antibody drugs, when we have easier-to-take pills for COVID?
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George0:23
Yeah, that's a great question. I think the important thing to remember is we had good data last week on an intramuscular application. We did a clinical trial comparing the IM, a single injection, versus the IV administration of the antibodies, and we were able to demonstrate non-inferiority, comparable efficacy. So patients will have a choice between getting a single treatment injection of an antibody or taking pills for some days. The pills are a great addition; they're great for the world. I think Pfizer did a wonderful thing allowing manufacturers to supply them to the developing world. But the antibodies are safe, they're highly effective, they're a one-and-done treatment, and they're not going away. So I think they have an important role to play. They're very effective, and they can treat patient populations that aren't addressable by the small molecules, for example, prophylaxis and immunocompromised patients, and potentially other patient populations as well. So I think it's great for the world to have the small molecule drugs. I think antibodies are going to have an important role to play in the control of this disease for the foreseeable future.
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Interviewer1:42
Well, tell us what kind of demand you've been seeing over the past few months for your medicine, both here in the United States and in Europe, as we've been seeing these case numbers go up so significantly.
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George1:52
Yeah, look, we've had great demand for the antibody. Billion-dollar sales to the U.S. We've sold so far, we have hard orders for 750,000 doses. Some of that includes the U.S., but certainly not exclusive to the U.S. We've been selling in many other countries. Countries that have bought Sotrovimab and have used it are coming back to order more. I think that speaks to the quite remarkable real-world efficacy that countries are seeing when they follow patients who've been treated with Sotrovimab. It's a great antibody. It covers all the variants. It's an important consideration that it's not specific for COVID; it certainly is an effective antibody against COVID, but also against SARS, also against many other coronaviruses. So not only do we have an antibody that stands up well to all the variants we're seeing from COVID, but potentially can help in future coronavirus pandemics as well.
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Interviewer2:56
Right, the ability to stand up against all those variants is obviously so important, and one of the really powerful things about your drug. Tell us about the kind of surveillance that you guys are doing. What kinds of risks do you see out there? Is Delta just so contagious and so successful at spreading that it doesn't really have any competitors in terms of variants that could come along, or what are you seeing in terms of risks of a potential new variant on the horizon?
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George3:20
Yeah, I think what we've learned from this pandemic is we should never be complacent and say that the currently circulating variant is the one that's going to be with us for a while. Delta is here; it's obviously more infectious than the strains that it supplanted. It could be that future variants will be variants of Delta, rather than a new variant coming out of the blue, but it's too early to say. It's important to note that COVID can go between humans and animals. So as long as it has animal reservoirs and the virus can go into animal populations, mutate, generate new variants, and come back into humans, we're not going to be completely out of the woods. So it's really important to have treatments, antibodies, whatever, that can stand up to not only the current variants but likely to variants that arise in the future. We feel very good about Sotrovimab. It certainly is standing up well to all of the currently circulating variants. Every time there's a new one sequenced, there are millions of sequences now, we test. We have tested all the circulating variants of concern, variants of interest, and it retains activity against all of those, as well as other coronaviruses. So it's a really important point, and we think we have a real leg up there.
