antibody Archives - Iran News Daily

AstraZeneca Testing COVID-19 Antibody Treatment

reporter 1222 — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 08:21:36 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it had begun testing an antibody-based treatment for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, with the first participants dosed, adding to recent signs of progress on possible medical solutions to the disease.

The British drug maker, whose COVID-19 vaccine candidate is already among the most advanced, said the early-stage trial would evaluate if AZD7442, a combination of two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), was safe and tolerable in up to 48 healthy participants between the ages of 18 and 55 years.

If the UK-based trial has a positive readout, AstraZeneca said it would proceed with larger, mid-to-late-stage trials to test AZD7442 as both a preventative treatment for the disease and a medicine for patients who have it, Reuters reported.

Monoclonal antibodies mimic natural antibodies generated in the body to fight off infection and can be synthesized in the laboratory to treat diseases in patients and has been endorsed by top scientists.

Current uses include treatment of some types of cancers.

London-listed AstraZeneca in June received US$23.7 million (S$32.5 million) in funding from US government agencies to advance development of antibody-based treatments for the novel coronavirus.

US based companies Regeneron and Eli Lilly are also testing mAbs-based treatments for COVID-19.

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New Discovered Antibody Can Block Coronavirus

reporter 1222 — Mon, 04 May 2020 12:58:43 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Scientists have discovered an antibody which prevents the coronavirus from infecting human cells in “groundbreaking research” which could lead to the development of new treatments.

Building on research into the SARS coronavirus, scientists from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, as well as the Erasmus Medical Centre and the company Harbour BioMed (HBM), have identified a potential method of neutralising COVID-19.

They discovered that an antibody which prevents the SARS virus from infecting human cells could also block the novel coronavirus from infecting human cells too, according to a peer-reviewed study published on Monday in the journal Nature Communications, Sky News reported.

Testing their collection of antibodies on cultured human cells, researchers discovered one which binds to a specific part which is present in both SARS and the virus causing COVID-19.

The discovery could offer an initial step towards developing a fully-human antibody to treat or prevent the disease, which has infected more than 3.5 million people worldwide and led to more than 247,000 deaths.

The neutralizing antibody “has potential to alter the course of infection in the infected host, support virus clearance or protect an uninfected individual that is exposed to the virus,” said Dr Berend-Jan Bosch, co-lead author on the study.

Dr Frank Grosveld, the study’s other co-lead author, said the discovery provided “a strong foundation for additional research to characterise this antibody and begin development as a potential COVID-19 treatment”.

“The antibody used in this work is ‘fully human’, allowing development to proceed more rapidly and reducing the potential for immune-related side effects,” he added.

The fully-human antibody is different from conventional therapeutic antibodies, which are often first developed in other species before being “humanised” so they can be transmitted to people.

It was developed using Harbour BioMed’s H2L2 transgenic mouse technology – effectively a mouse which has been genetically engineered to contain human genes, enabling researchers to develop “human” antibodies without testing them on living people.

“This is groundbreaking research,” said Dr Jingsong Wang, the chief executive of HBM.

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Iran to produce COVID-19 antibody

reporter 1222 — Sun, 19 Apr 2020 09:12:55 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – Preparations were made for producing coronavirus, COVID-19, antibody in Iran.

Head of Coronavirus Plasma Therapy Project Hassan Abolghasemi made the remarks in an interview with IRNA on Sun. and added, “with the efforts of researchers in Iran, preparations were made for producing specific COVID-19 immunoglobulin [antibody] in the country.”

Specific immunoglobulin on coronavirus can be produced from human plasma, he said, adding, “in other words, coronavirus antibody can be produced using purification of plasma and/or store them in small-scale vials.”

Like intravenous immunoglobulins, which are provided from human plasma and is a valuable and expensive drug, specific anti-coronavirus immunoglobulin can be produced from human plasma as well, he stressed.

Research activities for producing coronavirus antibody have started in the country, he said, adding, “it seems that there is the ability to produce specific immunoglobulin against COVID-19 in the country.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Abolghasemi said that effective steps have been taken in this field in the country, adding, “we are waiting to get approval by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.”

He pointed to the ‘more purification of plasma and possibility of easier storage’ as the salient advantage of the project, he said, adding, “plasma should be stored in a temperature below 20 degrees of centigrade in special bags but in this case, samples will be stored in smaller and portable vials at pharmacies as well.”

The Islamic Republic of Iran has made a breakthrough to treat COVID-19 patients using plasma therapy and all standards have been met at different stages of the research, he added.

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