An antibody cocktail therapy designed to prevent and treat COVID-19 is now entering Phase III clinical trials.
Body generates Y-shaped molecules called antibodies that latch on to the virus and mark it for destruction, or inhibits its abiltiy to infect healthy cells.
These antibodies can be obtained from COVID-19 patients and injected into sick patients to boost their immune system against the virus, a type of treatment known as covalescent plasma therapy.
But convalescent plasma therapy has its limitations; plasma donations from different patients contain different mixtures of antibodies, and some antibodies may target COVID-19 more effectively than others, according to a report published in June in the Journal of Clinical Virology. For instance, some antibodies directly prevent the virus from entering cells in the first place — so-called neutralizing antibodies — while others may not prevent infection, but instead direct other immune molecules to destroy infected cells.
To overcome this limitation, and avoid relying on a limited supply of plasma, several drug developers have turned to monoclonal antibodies — antibodies carefully selected for their ability to target specific pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, and then mass-produced in a lab.
REGENERON has come up with one such therapy, known as REGN-COV2 which has entered Phase III clinical trials to evaluate whether the treatment can prevent COVID-19 infection among healthy people who have had close contact with an infected person.
According to ClinicalTrials.gov there are about 2,000 participants at 100 different sites across U.S. They will recieve either the drug or the placebo, and the results will show how well the drug works compared with the placebo medication, and if any safety concern that pop up, according to a statement from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals the trial will be jointly run with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
REGN-COV2 contains two antibodies that latch onto and help to neutralize the coronavirus, hampering its ability to infect healthy cells. The two antibodies bind to the virus’s spike protein, a structure that sticks out from the surface of the pathogen and plugs into cells to trigger infection. Regeneron scientists found the two antibodies by studying genetically modified mice with human-like immune systems and antibodies collected from human COVID-19 patients.
If the FDA approves the drug at the end of Phase III trials, REGN-COV2 would then move on to the last phase called Phase IV, during which the drug could enter widespread use and its short- and long-term effects would be monitored in thousands of patients.
Source :
https://www.regeneron.com/covid19
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04452318?term=Regeneron&cond=Covid-19&draw=2&rank=4
https://www.livescience.com/antibody-cocktail-for-covid19-trial.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/06/health/regeneron-coronavirus-antibody-drug-bn/index.html
