Chinese lab believes the new drug “can stop a pandemic without a vaccine”

A Chinese research institute says it has developed a drug that it believes has the power to stop the virus

Beijing, China:

Chinese laboratories have developed drugs that they believe have the potential to stop the coronavirus pandemic.

The outbreak first occurred in China late last year and then spread throughout the world, creating an international race for treatments and vaccines.

Researchers say the drug being tested by scientists at the famous Beijing University in China not only shortens the recovery time of infected people, but may even provide short-term immunity from the virus. I will.

Sunnyche, director of the Beijing Genomics Advanced Innovation Center at the university, told AFP that the drug has been successful in animal testing.

“Injecting neutralizing antibodies into infected mice resulted in a 2,500-fold reduction in viral load five days later,” Xie said.

“That means that this potential drug is (a) curative.”

The drug uses neutralizing antibodies-produced by the human immune system to prevent virus-infected cells-Xie’s team isolated from the blood of 60 recovered patients

A study on the team’s study, published Sunday in the scientific journal Cell, suggests that the use of antibodies provides a potential “cure” for the disease and shortens recovery time.

Xie said his team was working “day and night” in search of antibodies.

“Our expertise is not in immunology or virology, but in single-cell genomics. When we find that a single-cell genomic approach can effectively find neutralizing antibodies, we’re excited. Did.”

He added that the drug should be ready for the potential winter epidemic of the virus that had infected 4.8 million people and killed more than 315,000 people later this year and around the world. ..

“A clinical trial program is underway,” said Shea, adding that cases will be conducted in Australia and elsewhere due to the declining number of cases in China and the small number of human guinea pigs in the trial. ..

“I hope these neutralized antibodies can become specialized medicines that stop pandemics,” he said.

Health officials said last week that China already has five potential coronavirus vaccines in human trials.

However, the World Health Organization warns that vaccine development can take 12-18 months.

Scientists have also pointed to the potential benefit of plasma-blood from recovered individuals who have developed antibodies against the virus that allow the body’s defenses to attack the virus.

In China, more than 700 patients have received plasma therapy, a process that authorities have shown to be “very good therapeutic effect”.

“But it has a limited supply,” said Xie, who noted that the 14 neutralizing antibodies used in their drugs could soon be mass-produced.

Prevention and treatment

The use of antibodies in drug therapy is not a new approach and has been successful in treating several other viruses such as HIV, Ebola, and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

Mr Xie said his researchers had made an “early start” before the outbreak began in China and before it spread to other countries.

The Ebola treatment rendezibir was considered a promising early treatment for COVID-19. Clinical trials in the US have shown that recovery time for some patients was reduced by a third, but the difference in mortality was not significant.

The new drug may even provide short-term protection against the virus.

This study showed that if the neutralizing antibody was injected before the mice were infected with the virus, the mice remained uninfected and no virus was detected.

This could provide temporary protection to health care workers for weeks, and Xie said he hopes to “extend to months.”

Over 100 vaccines of COVID-19 are being developed around the world, but with the more rigorous process of vaccine development, Xie says the new drug will be a faster and more efficient way of stopping the global coronavirus march. Wants

“Even without a vaccine, effective drugs could stop a pandemic,” he said.

(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)