ITALY TESTS POWERFUL ANTIBODY
Covid-19 cocktail is 80 times stronger than the one given to Trump
TUCKED in the Tuscan hills around Siena in Italy, a research lab has come up with an antibody treatment for Covid-19 that its developers say will be 80 times more potent than the one given to former United States president Donald Trump in his most critical days in hospital last year.
The therapy is derived from the blood of people who’ve recovered from Covid, and on 453 antibodies.
It will also be administered as a single shot rather than a drawnout infusion, which has been the norm for similar drugs.
Clinical trials of about 3,000 doses produced so far started in the country on Thursday, and a roll out could be approved as early as this summer.
“The focus of our work has been on dosage,” said Fabrizio Landi, president of the Toscana Life Sciences Foundation, the promoter of the project. When Trump received an antibody drug, he had to have an hours-long infusion. We are aiming at getting to a dose 80 times more powerful than the one he got.”
As the world struggles to deal with the deadliest pandemic in recent history — one that has left more than 2.5 million people dead — vaccines and treatments have become critical.
Italy, where the pandemic has killed almost 99,000 people, has turned to a well-tested pharmaceutical hub for answers.
Created more than a century ago as a research centre by Achille Sclavo, a pioneer in vaccines, the area around Siena is where an antidote for anthrax was found, where GlaxoSmithKline Plc produces its meningitis shots and dozens of start-ups funded by Toscana Life Sciences Foundation work on vaccines.
The country’s Covid antibodytreatment project backed by Toscana is being funded by the Monte Paschi di Siena SpA foundation, the Tuscany region, the Italian government and the European Union.
According to developers, early tests have shown the Siena treatment — with more concentrated dosage and its one-shot delivery — is highly effective and less time-consuming than other such therapies. Its efficacy in clinical trials has yet to be determined.
The therapy was found in early testing to neutralise emerging and more virulent variants now prevalent in Italy, Landi said. New strains sent the number of cases in Italy to a two-month high this week.
The Siena monoclonal antibody treatment works on principles similar to those used by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. The US company’s combination antibody therapy gained notice last year when Trump received it after contracting Covid-10. Eli Lilly & Co. also has a single-antibody product.
Monoclonal antibody treatments mimic proteins the body makes to repel viruses. They are among the few treatments that can prevent patients with early Covid symptoms from worsening enough to need hospitalisation.
As Italy, like the rest of Europe, struggles to accelerate the pace of its vaccinations, it is looking for such treatments for patients who are unable to get inoculated and end up contracting the virus.
In the early days of the pandemic, Italy struggled to find everything from masks and ventilators to drugs, reinforcing the need to keep some critical manufacturing home.
The Siena project is part of a broader effort by the country to become independent in the production of vaccines and other drugs, something that has become more urgent following challenges faced by the EU in securing adequate vaccine doses.