Antibody hope for elderly and vulnerable
SCIENTISTS will trial an antibody treatment that could protect older people and those with weakened immune systems from coronavirus.
Drugs giant AstraZeneca is developing a therapy that involves giving patients a dose of monoclonal antibodies.
These target the Covid-19 virus and bind to its surface, preventing it attaching to and infecting healthy cells.
Researchers hope a threeminute infusion could provide protection for up to six months.
It is not intended to be used instead of a vaccine but could help boost the immune response of older people, who tend to have a weaker response to vaccines.
Protection
It could also benefit immunosuppressed people, including those being treated for cancer, for whom a vaccine simply may not be suitable.
Sir Mene Pangalos, who leads the company’s pharmaceutical discovery work, said: “There’s a population who are elderly that may not get a good immune response to the vaccine.
“In those instances, you might want to treat those patients with an antibody to give them additional protection.”
AstraZeneca evaluated the ability of more than 1,500 monoclonal antibodies to bind to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and stop it infecting cells in a laboratory setting, and identified two that were most effective. The
Cambridge-based firm is preparing to trial the therapy in up to 30 British volunteers.
If it proves safe, then larger trials will begin over the autumn and winter.
Sir Mene added: “We’re going to do this as fast as we can. Obviously, we’ve got to show that you’re safe but antibodies are well known entities – it should be safe.”
The findings came as separate research suggested antibodies derived from llamas could combat coronavirus.
A team from The Rosalind Franklin Institute, Oxford
University, Diamond Light Source and Public Health England engineered new antibodies – known as nanobodies due to their small size – using a collection of antibodies taken from the animals’ blood cells.
They found that the nanobodies bind tightly to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, blocking it from entering human cells and, therefore, halting the infection.
James Naismith, director of The Rosalind Franklin Institute and professor of structural biology at Oxford University, said: “These nanobodies have the
potential to be used in a similar way to convalescent serum, effectively stopping progression of the virus in ill patients.
“We were able to combine one of the nanobodies with a human antibody and show the combination was even more powerful than either alone.
“Combinations are particularly useful since the virus has to change multiple things at the same time to escape – this is very hard for the virus to do.
“The nanobodies also have potential in acting as a powerful diagnostic.”
In the study, published in