Anmat approved clinical trials with horse serum for patients with coronavirus

2020-07-24T20:34:17.578Z

Treatment consists of administering antibodies to patients to block and prevent the spread of the virus. The first tests will be done at the Guemes Sanatorium.

07/24/2020 - 17:21

Clarín.com
Society

In a new advance in research to combat the spread of the coronavirus, the National Administration of Medicines, Food and Medical Technology (Anmat) approved clinical trials with a serum from horses in patients "with moderate to severe disease."

The hyperimmune serum was developed by researchers from the University of San Martín (Unsam) and the company Inmunova and the first tests will be carried out at the Guemes Sanatorium in the City of Buenos Aires.

From Unsam they explained that the authorized study corresponds to "phase 2/3, adaptive, randomized, controlled, double-blind to study the pharmacokinetics, efficacy and safety of equine hyperimmune serum in adult patients with confirmed moderate to severe disease SARS- CoV-2 ".

The use of sera as treatment is called passive immunization and consists of administering antibodies to the patients against the infectious agent , causing its blockage and preventing it from spreading.

The hyperimmune (equine) serum was developed thanks to a public-private partnership between the Inmunova laboratory, UNSAM, the Argentine Biological Institute (BIOL), the Leloir Institute Foundation (FIL), Mabxience, Conicet and ANLIS Malbrán.

In this development, "a recombinant protein from the SARS-CoV-2 virus was used as an antigen, which was injected into horses to obtain polyclonal antibodies. The serum produced contains a large number of these antibodies with the capacity to prevent the virus from entering the cells and multiply, "they explained from the University.

"Antibodies that are extracted from the serum of the horses then receive a biotechnological treatment in which what is called the 'constant domain' is removed, which is a part of the antibody that can cause allergic reactions and is suspected of causing it. also inflammatory reactions, "said Fernando Goldbaum, scientific director of Inmunova, head of the Laboratory of Immunology and Molecular Microbiology at the Leloir Institute Foundation and researcher at Conicet.