|
 There
is currently no proven effective treatment for the disease, which
originated in China and is spreading across the world in a pandemic
that has infected more than 850,000 and killed 42,000.
Zhang Linqi at Tsinghua University in Beijing said a drug made with
antibodies like the ones his team have found could be used more
effectively than the current approaches, including what he called
"borderline" treatment such as plasma.
Plasma contains antibodies but is restricted by blood type.
In early January, Zhang's team and a group at the 3rd People's
Hospital in Shenzhen began analysing antibodies from blood taken
from recovered COVID-19 patients, isolating 206 monoclonal
antibodies which showed what he described as a "strong" ability to
bind with the virus' proteins.
They then conducted another test to see if they could actually
prevent the virus from entering cells, he told Reuters in an
interview.
Among the first 20 or so antibodies tested, four were able to block
viral entry and of those, two were "exceedingly good" at doing so,
Zhang said.
The team is now focused on identifying the most powerful antibodies
and possibly combining them to mitigate the risk of the new
coronavirus mutating.
If all goes well, interested developers could mass produce them for
testing, first on animals and eventually on humans.
The group has partnered with a Sino-U.S. biotech firm, Brii
Biosciences, in an effort "to advance multiple candidates for
prophylactic and therapeutic intervention", according to a statement
by Brii.
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"The importance of antibodies has been proven in the world of medicine for
decades now," Zhang said. "They can be used to treat cancer, autoimmune diseases
and infectious diseases."
The antibodies are not a vaccine but could potentially be given to at-risk
people with the aim of preventing them from contracting COVID-19.
Normally it takes around two years for a drug even to get close to approval for
use on patients, but the COVID-19 pandemic means things are moving faster, he
said, with steps that would previously be taken sequentially now being done in
parallel.
Zhang, who posted the findings online, hopes the antibodies can be tested on
humans in six months. If they are found to be effective in trials, actual use
for treatment would take longer.
Other experts urge caution.
"There's a number of steps which will now need to be followed before it could be
used as a treatment for coronavirus patients," Hong Kong University infectious
disease specialist Ben Cowling said when the finding was described to him by
Reuters.
"But it's really exciting to find these potential treatments, and then have a
chance to test them out. Because if we can find more candidates, then eventually
we'll have better treatment," Cowling said.
(Additional reporting by Roxanne Liu; Editing by Kim Coghill; Editing by Tony
Munroe, Kate Kelland and Kim Coghill)
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