Companies test antibody drugs to treat and prevent COVID-19

The coronavirus vaccine is still months away, so companies are rushing to test what’s next. It is a drug that delivers antibodies that immediately fight the virus without having to train the immune system to make the virus.

Antibodies are proteins that the body makes when an infection occurs. They attach to the virus and help it get rid of it. Vaccines work by tricking the body into thinking that there is an infection, so it remembers what to do if antibodies are made and the actual bug is found.

However, it can take 1-2 months after vaccination or infection to develop the most effective antibody. Experimental drugs shorten the process by giving concentrated versions of certain things that work most effectively against coronaviruses in the laboratory, Animal experimentation..

“It takes time for the vaccine to work and forces the antibody to develop, but once the antibody is administered, it is protected immediately,” said Dr. Myron Cohen, a virologist at the University of North Carolina. At high concentrations, if it can be produced in a large vat in an antibody factory… we can do some kind of bypass Immune system“

These drugs are believed to last for more than a month and may give a quick and temporary immunity to people at high risk of infection, such as health care workers or someone living with COVID-19. .. If they prove to be effective and the vaccine does not deliver or protect as expected, the drugs may eventually be considered for wider use, perhaps for teachers and other groups.

It has also been tested as a treatment to help the immune system and prevent serious symptoms and death.

“We hope we can target people in the first week of illness and treat them with antibodies to prevent them from becoming sick,” said Dr Marshall Lyon, an infectious disease specialist who helps test such drugs. .. At Emory University in Atlanta.

Having such tools “will be very important in the fight against COVID,” Cohen said.

Vaccines are considered the key to controlling the virus, with more than 20 million people infected and 738,000 dead in the world. Several companies are competing to develop vaccines, but the results of the extensive final testing needed to evaluate them are months away.

Antibody drugs are “very promising,” in contrast, when available “soon”, Dr. Janet Woodcock, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration official who heads government efforts to accelerate COVID-19 therapy. Said. Major research is underway and some answers will come by early fall.

One company, Eli Lilly, has already begun manufacturing antibody drugs, and I am confident that ongoing research will yield good results.

“Our goal is to get something out as soon as possible,” to prepare hundreds of thousands of doses by the fall, said Lily Chief Scientist Dr. Daniel Skovronsky. ..

Another company that developed antibody drug cocktails against Ebola —Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.— is currently Coronavirus..

“The success of our Ebola program gives us the conviction that we may be able to do this again.

Regeneron’s drug uses two antibodies to increase the likelihood that the drug will work, even if the virus evolves and evades its effects.

Lilly is testing two different single antibody drugs. One is the Canadian company Ab Cellera and the other is the Chinese company Junshi Biosciences. Junsi said in July that 40 healthy people had no safety concerns and are undergoing extensive research.

Other companies working on antibody drugs include Amgen and Adaptive Biotechnologies. Singapore biotechnology company Tychan Pte Ltd. is also testing antibodies medicine There are similar products under development for Zika virus and yellow fever.

“I’m cautiously optimistic about drugs,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of infectious disease specialists in the United States. “I am impressed with the experience at Ebola,” where the drug proved to be effective.

What goes wrong?

— Antibodies do not reach every part of the body that needs their action, such as the back of the lungs. All antibody drugs are given via the IV and must travel through the bloodstream where they are needed.

— Viruses can mutate to evade antibodies — That’s why Regeneron is testing a two-antibody combo that binds to viruses at various places to prevent virus escape.

“By using one antibody, Lilly effectively cuts in half the production capacity, and two,” Skovlonsky said, “making available doses smaller.” If a single antibody works, “it can treat twice as many people,” he said.

— The antibody may not last long enough. If the color fades within a month, the COVID-19 illness usually resolves in that time, so treatment is okay. However, for prevention, it may not be practical to infuse more often than one or two months.

To circumvent this problem, Vir Biotechnology Inc., a San Francisco company, says the antibody was designed to outlast the normal. GlaxoSmithKline has invested $250 million in Vir to test them.

Giving higher doses may also help. “If you give twice as much antibody, you get two months of protection,” said Lily Skovronsky, who said that half of the antibody disappeared a month later.

— Great horror: Antibodies do the opposite of what they expect, and actually make people sick by increasing the ability of the virus to enter cells and stimulating the immune system. This is a theoretical concern that we have not seen in previous tests, but it requires extensive and definitive experimentation to prove its safety.

“As far as we know antibody It will be useful.”

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