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As vaccine developments against the novel coronavirus progress relatively rapidly, a team of British scientists is experimenting with a new drug that could give immediate immunity to a person who has been exposed to covid-19 and prevent you from contracting the disease.
It’s a antibody therapy which could be administered as emergency treatment to hospital patients and residents of homes for the aged, with the aim of containing further outbreaks, according to British media cited by the portal Infobae.
This means that people who live in homes or nursing homes where someone has contracted COVID-19 could be injected with the new medicine to also stop the spread of infection. “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 said the doctor. Catherine houlihanvirologist University College London Hospitals NHS Trust (UCLH) and study director.
The drug was developed by UCLH and AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical company that also created one of the vaccines against the novel coronavirus with the Oxford University and which is currently awaiting approval from the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency for use in the UK next week.
Researchers are trying to show that the cocktail of antibodies can protect patients from covid-19 for a period of between 6 and 12 months. In this sense, if the health authorities approve the drug, it could be available in March or April, it will be given to people who have been exposed to SARS-Cov-2 at any time during the previous eight days.
?? The advantage of this drug is that provides patients with immediate antibodies?? Houlihan said.
This month, University College Hospital became the first site in the world to recruit patients for the randomized controlled trial and give them the drug or a placebo. ?? Until the date, we injected 10 participants (among staff, students and others) who have been exposed to the virus in a home, health care facility, or student residences ,? Houlihan said. She and her colleagues will be following participants closely to see which of them develops the COVID-19 infection.
Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia who specializes in infectious diseases, said the new treatment could significantly reduce the number of deaths from covid: ?? If you are facing outbreaks in settings such as nursing homes, or if you have patients particularly at risk for severe COVID, this drug could save many lives. As long as it’s confirmed in Phase 3 trials, it could play an important role in keeping people who would otherwise die alive. So that should be something important ??.
In the event of an epidemic in a retirement home, it is better to administer this kind of antibody cocktails as soon as possible to everyone on site, including the elderly, residents and staff. Likewise, if someone is living with an elderly person and there is contagion in the family, then this drug could be a way to protect them, ”he added.
The drug involves a combination of long-acting antibodies called AZD7442, which was developed by AstraZeneca, and unlike antibodies produced by the body to help fight infection, uses monoclonal antibodies created in the laboratory.
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