StemCell Therapy

Some of the sickest coronavirus patients could be injected with lab-made antibodies when they arrive in hospitalto help themfight off the disease, according to a government advisor.

Prof Peter Openshaw, who sits on Sage's nine-strong clinical information group, described biotech therapies currently being trialled as potentially "very exciting" treatments for Covid-19 patients.

The drugs, known as monoclonal antibodies, are based on antibodies produced by patients who have recovered from coronavirus, and are the first potential new medicines specifically designed to attack the virus.

Prof Openshaw said such treatments would result in antibodies circulating in a patient's bloodstream "within half an hour", unlike vaccines, which could take "weeks" to stimulate the body into producing a similar response.

"One particular benefit might be that it could prevent progression to the severe disease that is sometimes seen in people who present with initial respiratory symptoms," he said.

"Boosting their antibody levels as soon as they arrive in hospital could mean that they don't go on to develop all the severe complications that do happen in a minority of patients."

Prof Openshaw, who is a professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said British scientists were now awaiting the results of human trials that showed the effect of injecting monoclonal antibodies into Covid-19 patients in hospitals.

Unlike drugs such as dexamethasone, the steroid, monoclonal antibodies have been specifically designed to attack the virus and can be given to patients much earlier in the course of the disease.

Two US pharma firms, Eli Lilly and Regeneron, launched the first safety studies of monoclonal antibodies therapies in humans last month.

Read more here:
Sickest coronavirus patients could be injected with lab-made antibodies to help fight off infection - Telegraph.co.uk

This entry was posted on July 11, 2020 at 12:46 pm and is filed under Preventative Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |