Britain investigates whether drug can give instant immunity to those exposed to COVID

A group of British scientists are researching a new drug that could prevent a person exposed to the coronavirus from developing the disease.

Antibody treatment, the Guardian newspaper noted, would confer “instant immunity” and could be given as emergency treatment to hospital patients and residents of nursing homes in an effort to contain outbreaks.

The drug in question was developed by UCLH and AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical company which, together with the University of Oxford, has also created one of the COVID-19 vaccines. It is the same that will be produced in Argentina.

“If we can show that this treatment works and prevent people exposed to the virus from developing COVID-19, that would be an exciting addition to the arsenal of weapons that are being developed to combat this terrible virus.”said Dr Catherine Houlihan, a virologist at University College London Hospitals NHS Trust (UCLH) and director of a study on the drug.

The researchers in charge of this project hope to show that the cocktail of antibodies protects patients from COVID-19 for a period of between 6 and 12 months.

If health authorities approve the drug, which could take place between March and April 2021, it will be given to people who have been exposed to COVID at some point in the previous eight days.