|
 Two vaccine targets on virus may be better than one
An experimental vaccine developed by GeoVax Labs Inc succeeded in
promoting development of antibodies that target two different sites
on the virus in a small pilot study and has been advanced to
mid-stage clinical trials, researchers reported.
Like currently available COVID-19 vaccines, GeoVax's GEO-CM04S1
induces immune responses that target the spike protein on the
surface of the virus. But it also targets the "nucleocapsid," or
body, of the virus. In the study reported on Wednesday in The Lancet
Microbe https://bit.ly/3Cyzgyq, 56 volunteers received the vaccine,
which uses a modified version of a harmless virus to deliver
instructions to the immune system. Overall, 94% developed antibodies
against the spike and the nucleocapsid protein, according to the
research team from City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte,
California. Other components of the immune system also responded
well, including T cells, which protect against severe infection.
Two mid-stage trials of the vaccine are now underway. One is testing
its safety and effectiveness in immunosuppressed patients with blood
cancer. The other is testing it as a booster in healthy adults who
previously received vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech or
Johnson & Johnson. The studies will look at the level of antibodies
that can neutralize the Omicron variant, the researchers said.
In separate experiments, Chinese researchers tested an inhalable
antibody drug that also targets two sites on the virus. In mice
infected with the coronavirus, the treatment appeared very
effective, they reported on Wednesday in the journal Cell
https://www.science
direct.com/science/article/pii/
S0092867422002690.
Virus may become resistant, mutate after antibody treatment
COVID-19 patients who receive one of the few antibody treatments
that works against the Omicron variant must be carefully monitored
because after the drug is infused, the virus may mutate and become
resistant to it, researchers warned after seeing such cases with
Delta variant patients.
They studied 100 patients infected with the Delta variant who were
treated with an intravenous dose of sotrovimab from GlaxoSmithKline
and Vir Biotechnology. Eight of the patients continued to shed
infectious virus for longer than doctors expected, and tests showed
that four of the eight had virus particles with mutations that are
known to reduce the drug's effectiveness.
The mutations had developed within six to 13 days after the patients
started receiving the drug, the research team reported in The New
England Journal of Medicine
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full
/10.1056/NEJMc2120219 on Wednesday. The same mutations
were seen in four of 45 participants in an earlier clinical trial of
the drug, said Rebecca Rockett of the University of Sydney,
Australia, the report's lead author.
[to top of second column] |
 Genetic studies are warranted when patients do
not recover as expected after sotrovimab
treatment, she said. "It's important to bear in
mind that these treatment-resistance mutations
are uncommon," Rockett added. "However, our
study highlights the need for better
surveillance and further research to ensure that
novel antiviral treatments remain effective and
if resistance develops, it is not transmitted
into the community."
Pandemic's death toll likely vastly
underestimated
The true death toll from the coronavirus
pandemic may be more than three times higher
than official records suggest, researchers said.
Instead of the official estimate of 5.9 million
COVID-related deaths, a more realistic estimate
is 18.2 million, according to a report in The
Lancet
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/
lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02796-3/fulltext
on Thursday. Researchers compared data from 74
countries and territories collected from January
2020 through December 2021 with data collected
during the previous 11 years. On average, among
every 100,000 people worldwide, there were 120
deaths that would not have been expected had the
pandemic not occurred, they estimated. The
highest estimated excess death rates were in
Andean Latin America (512 deaths per 100,000),
Eastern Europe (345 deaths per 100,000), Central
Europe (316 deaths per 100,000), Southern
sub-Saharan Africa (309 deaths per 100,000), and
Central Latin America (274 deaths per 100,000).
The United States and the UK had an estimated
179 and 127 excess deaths per 100,000,
respectively. Some countries, including Iceland,
Singapore and Australia, appeared to have had
fewer deaths than expected. The highest numbers
of estimated pandemic-related deaths were in
India (4.1 million), the United States and
Russia (1.1 million each), Mexico (798,000),
Brazil (792,000), Indonesia (736,000), and
Pakistan (664,000).
 "Further research will help to reveal how many
deaths were caused directly by COVID-19, and how
many occurred as an indirect result of the
pandemic," study leader Haidong Wang of the
University of Washington in Seattle said in a
statement.
Click for a Reuters graphic
https://tmsnrt.rs/3c7R3Bl on vaccines
in development.
(Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Bill
Berkrot)
 |
