Spain-based Grifols (MCE: GRF, MCE: GRF.P, NASDAQ: GRFS) is commencing a clinical trial in Spain to assess the safety and efficacy of a new COVID-19 drug, it was reported on Monday.

The company's new COVID-19 drug is based on the company's immunoglobulin Gamunex-C and includes anti-SARS-CoV-2 polyclonal antibodies from plasma donors who have recovered from the disease. It is intended to offer immediate post-exposure protection against the virus and the company says that it will be useful as a complement to the vaccine in the early phase after vaccination.

The clinical trial is headed by the researchers Oriol Mitja and Bonaventura Clotet, from Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital in Barcelona. It is likely to commence in February, with the possibility of results in the spring. The subjects for the study will be those who are asymptomatic but have been tested positive for the virus in a diagnostic test. They will participate in the clinical study and receive subcutaneously Grifols' immunoglobulin rich with anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Around 800 patients will be undergoing the trial.