The COVID-19 pandemic, which has wreaked havoc on the world, has taken the lives of more than 4 lakh people so far, globally. According to the figures of the World Health Organization, about 7.2 million people worldwide have been affected by the COVID-19 infection, triggered by the novel coronavirus. As far as India is concerned, the death toll of the pandemic is above 8,000 while number of affected people hovers around 2.8 lakhs. Unfortunately, a vaccine or treatment for this deadly virus is yet to be found, despite the best efforts of scientists and doctors. However, a new ray of hope for the cure of COVID-19 infection may be on the cards soon, says researchers. They believe that antibody therapy may be a potential treatment option for this deadly infection.
WHAT IS THIS NEW ANTIBODY THERAPY ALL ABOUT?
Scientists are experimenting with many treatment options for the COVID-19 infection. One of the popular approaches is repurposing existing drugs. Of late, researchers have experimented with blood plasma therapy using antibody-rich blood from recovered patients. Preliminary evidences show some success too. However, more recently, researchers are exploring another treatment option for the novel coronavirus: Monoclonal antibodies. American pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly and Company has launched human trials with these antibodies and a new COVID-19 drug may be ready for use as early as September this year. Monoclonal antibodies are antibodies that can be easily isolated and produced in large quantities. So far, they have been used for Ebola, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis among others. Scientists are of the opinion that drugs based on monoclonal antibody designed for COVID-19 can be more effective than the other repurposed options under trial now.
According to the Chief Scientific Officer of Eli Lilly and Company, Daniel Skovronsky, this antibody therapy has the potential to even prevent COVID-19 infection. The American pharmaceutical company is currently experimenting with two separate treatments using monoclonal antibodies which have entered human trial. Both of them block a protein in the novel coronavirus that it relies on, for sneaking into human cells and multiplying. This protein is known as spike protein. Eli Lilly and Company has partnered with Canadian biotech firm AbCellera and Chinese drug maker Shanghai Junshi Biosciences for the development of these antibody-based drugs.
Apart from these two, the American drug company is Lilly is also in the middle of preclinical studies of a third antibody treatment for the COVID-19 infection. It may also enter human trials in the weeks to come. This antibody works on a different part of the novel coronavirus. However, treatment with antibody drugs may be more expensive than a vaccine. This is because they come with a huge quantity of proteins.
OTHER ANTIBODY THERAPIES IN DEVELOPMENT
Apart from Eli Lilly and Company, other pharma giants are also in the process of trials with antibody therapy. US-based drug maker Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is also experimenting with antibodies for the treatment of COVID-19 infection. A project named The Antibody Therapy Against Coronavirus (Atac) is also focussing on a similar approach. Under this initiative, funded by the European Commission and led by Sweden’s Karolinska research institute, monoclonal antibodies are taken out from convalescent plasma. This therapy is currently being tried on German human volunteers and animals in Switzerland. Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline has also collaborated with Vir Biotechnology Inc to come up with an antibody treatment to fight the novel coronavirus. Their approach is extracting the strongest antibodies out of the plasma. Other pharmaceutical companies and research bodies working on similar lines include AbbVie, Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research Japan’s Chugai Pharmabody Research.