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Coronavirus, monoclonal antibodies the new weapon

2020-05-13T09:09:06.546Z


Projects in Italy (ANSA)


The first one was discovered in mid-March and in less than two months monoclonal antibodies, i.e. molecules targeted against the new coronavirus, are much more than a promise: they are intelligent and specific weapons to block the SarsCoV2 virus, which Italy is preparing to experiment.

"We are among the first in the world to make a monoclonal drug derived from the blood of convalescent patients, which is supplied to us by Spallanzani," said Rino Rappuoli, chief scientist and head of external R&D of the Gsk vaccine, which is developing it at the foundation Toscana Life Sciences with the Spallanzani Institute in Rome. In the online debate organized by Humanitas University, the National Cancer Institute of Milan and Bocconi Rappuoli University he also said that antibodies are being drawn from the blood of the patients. "We have already isolated many of them and - he added - we hope to begin the industrial phase, in order to be able to use them in the clinical setting, between the end of the year and the first months of 2021". It could be the first drug to arrive for Covid-19 and would be given immediately to both the sick and health workers.

Also in Italy, the group of the geneticist Giuseppe Novelli, of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, is collaborating with Pier Paolo Pandolfi, of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center of the University of Harvard, to request authorization for the clinical trial of three synthetic monoclonal antibodies capable of blocking the Spike protein, the main weapon to which the new coronavirus invades the cells.

Monoclonal antibodies "could be the first intelligent drugs against the virus," observed Novelli, and "are not in competition with the vaccine". The antibodies are in fact drugs intended for those with the disease, while the preventive vaccine is intended for healthy individuals. It would be important for Novelli to have drugs ahead of October, when the arrival of the cold weather could cause the number of Covid-19 cases to rise.

The three molecules, which seem to have a "very high application potential and a high neutralizing power", were selected thanks to the large Canadian bank of recombinant antibodies, laTrac (Toronto Recombinant Antibody Center). "They show that they have the best requirements, they are very strong candidates to become drugs." The idea is to organize a multicenter clinical study between Canada, India and Italy and the dossier to be presented to the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa) is in preparation.

The path of specific monoclonal antibodies against sarsCoV2 was opened in mid-March with the discovery of the first anti-Covid-19 monoclonal antibody obtained by the Dutch University of Utrecht. The molecule is called 47D11 and in laboratory tests it has shown itself capable of neutralizing the virus in cells, attacking the Spike protein.

Source: ansa

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