Chinese scientists seeking potential COVID-19 treatment find 'effective'
antibodies
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[April 01, 2020]
By Martin Quin Pollard
BEIJING (Reuters) - A team of Chinese
scientists has isolated several antibodies that it says are "extremely
effective" at blocking the ability of the new coronavirus to enter
cells, which eventually could be helpful in treating or preventing
COVID-19.
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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Scientist Linqi Zhang talks to a student in his laboratory where
they work on research into novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
antibodies for possible use in a drug at Tsinghua University's
Research Center for Public Health in Beijing, China, March 30, 2020.
EUTERS/Thomas Peter
"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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