Covid - 19 Drug To Be Developed Using Antibodies


COVID-19 drug to be developed using antibodies

A group of Japanese researchers plans to develop a drug to treat coronavirus infections using antibodies from people who have recovered.

The team, led by Professor Takagi Motoki at Fukushima Medical University, explained the project at a news conference on Monday.

They plan to develop the drug using neutralizing antibodies, which are proteins found in the blood of people who have recovered.

Such antibodies can stop the virus from multiplying. Any drug developed with them is expected to be highly effective.

The team has developed technology that can detect various antibodies at once in a tiny amount of blood. About 40 people have provided their blood samples for analysis so far.

The researchers aim to collect the samples of 100 people, from which they hope to obtain the type of antibody needed.

At Monday's news conference, the researchers called for cooperation from people who have recovered from the virus. Once they obtain a neutralizing antibody, they plan to copy and mass-produce it. They say the drug will be effective for people for whom vaccines don't work.

Novel coronavirus infections are being treated mainly with drugs produced for other diseases. Professor Takagi emphasized his team's wish to develop antibody-based medicine, noting that the drugs currently in use and vaccines will not be enough to help everyone.