Antibody therapy in development

[DrTuner]

 Looks like the people at Centivax have been busy:

https://www.centivax.com/monoclonals

 

 Basically they've taken SARS-CoV antibodies (from the original SARS epidemic) and modified them to produce antibodies for SARS-CoV-2. It's one of the many efforts ongoing for effective treatment. Earliest estimate would seem to be September.

[Sihuhata]

Being antibodies, does it not fall more into the 'vaccine' category? Or is it treatment to be had after contracting the disease?

[DrTuner]

10 minutes ago, Sihuhata said:

Being antibodies, does it not fall more into the 'vaccine' category? Or is it treatment to be had after contracting the disease?

It's a treatment, not a vaccine. It could be administered at hospitals and be effective within 20 minutes. Recovery time unknown but I'd guess days and likely at home. Would provide a perfect stop-gap until there is a vaccine.

 

DARPA seems to be already testing a similar solution: https://business.financialpost.com/opinion/diane-francis-pentagons-science-arm-working-on-coronavirus-firewall-to-protect-people-until-the-vaccine-is-ready . Connected to Moderna.

Edited April 1, 2020 by DrTuner

[DrTuner]

I'll update this one: 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johncumbers/2020/06/16/netflix-pandemic-star-just-showed-his-covid-19-antibody-drug-works-in-hamsters-how-quickly-could-it-treat-humans/#5648f8d178b1

 

Quote

On Tuesday, his company Centivax announced that they have created optimized antibodies that protect hamsters from lethal amounts of the virus that causes COVID-19. Compared to animals that did not receive the antibody, treated hamsters were found to have 97 percent less virus in their lungs after 48 hours.

 

I'm quite glad I contributed a tiny bit when they needed a bit of cash for testing. Looking promising.