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British scientists are testing a new drug that could prevent someone exposed to the coronavirus from developing Covid-19 disease, which experts say could save many lives.
Antibody therapy is believed to provide instant immunity to the disease and could be given as emergency treatment to hospital patients and residents of health facilities to help contain outbreaks.
People living in households where someone has caught Covid could be injected with the drug to make sure they don’t become infected too. It could also be given to college students, among whom the virus has spread rapidly because they live, study and socialize together.
Dr Catherine Houlihan, a virologist at University College London Hospitals NHS Trust (UCLH) who is leading a study called Storm Chaser on the drug, said: ‘If we can prove that this treatment works and stop people exposed to the virus from continuing developing Covid-19 would be an exciting addition to the arsenal of weapons being developed to combat this terrible virus. “
The drug was developed by UCLH and AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical company which has also, along with the University of Oxford, created a vaccine that the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency is expected to approve for use in the United States. -Brittany next week.
The team hopes the trial shows that the antibody cocktail protects against Covid-19 for six to 12 months. Trial participants receive it in two doses, one after the other. If approved, it will be offered to someone who has been exposed to Covid in the previous eight days.
It could be available as early as March or April if approved by the drug regulator after reviewing the evidence from the study. The trial involves ULCH, several other UK hospitals and a network of 100 sites around the world. This month, University College Hospital became the first site in the world to enroll patients in the randomized controlled trial and give them the vaccine or a placebo.
“To date, we have injected 10 participants – staff, students and others – who have been exposed to the virus at home, in a health care facility or in student residences,” Houlihan said. She and her colleagues would follow participants closely to see which of them develop Covid-19.
The immediate protection that the drug promises could play a vital role in reducing the impact of the virus until everyone is vaccinated. The vaccination program is underway with the Pfizer / BioNTech jab and is expected to last until next summer.
NHS England ramped up the vaccine rollout this week after criticism from hospital bosses, GP executives and former health secretary Jeremy Hunt that it was taking too long.
“The advantage of this drug is that it gives you immediate antibodies,” Houlihan said. “We could say to the trial participants who were exposed, yes, you can have the vaccine. But we wouldn’t tell them it would protect them from disease because then it is too late [because the Pfizer and Oxford vaccines do not confer full immunity for around a month]. “
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 epidemics in settings such as nursing homes, or if you have patients who are particularly at risk of contracting severe Covid, such as the elderly, it could well save many lives. Provided this is confirmed in Phase 3 trials, it could play a big role in keeping people alive who would otherwise die. So that should be an important thing, ”he said.
“If you’ve had an outbreak in a nursing home, you may want to use these type of antibody cocktails to bring the outbreak under control as soon as possible by giving the drug to everyone in the nursing home – residents and staff – who have not been vaccinated. Likewise, if you live with your elderly grandmother and you or someone else in the house is infected, you can give this to her to protect her.
The drug involves a long-acting combination of antibodies called AZD7442, which was developed by AstraZeneca. Rather than antibodies produced by the body to help fight infection, AZD7442 uses monoclonal antibodies, which were created in the laboratory.
In documents on a clinical trial that AstraZeneca has registered in the United States, he explains that he is studying “the effectiveness of AZD7442 for post-exposure prophylaxis of Covid-19 in adults. Sars-CoV-2 spike protein contains virus RBD [receptor-binding domain], which allows the virus to bind to receptors in human cells. By targeting this region of the virus spike protein, the antibodies can block the attachment of the virus to human cells and therefore should block infection. “
In a separate trial, called Provent, UCLH is investigating whether the drug might also protect people with weakened immune systems, such as those undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, who have recently been exposed to the virus but who are not. have not received a vaccine or in whom it has not resulted in immunity due to their underlying condition. The Provent and Storm Chaser trials are now in phase 3.
Dr Nicky Longley, infectious disease consultant at UCLH, who is leading the second study, said: “We will be recruiting people who are older or in long-term care, and who have conditions like cancer and HIV that can affect the ability of their immune system to respond to a vaccine. We want to reassure anyone for whom a vaccine may not work that we can offer an equally protective alternative.
Both trials are underway at UCLH’s new vaccine research center, funded by the NHS research arm, the National Institute for Health Research, and led by Professor Vincenzo Libri.
Dr Richard Jarvis, co-chair of the British Medical Association’s public health medicine committee, said: ‘For the vast majority of the population, vaccination offers the best protection against Covid-19, and NHS staff are working tirelessly to administer this to as many vulnerable patients as possible during this first wave of deployment.
“It will certainly be interesting to see if these trials are effective. But it is important that any new treatment is carefully researched, reviewed, and most importantly, safe before considering introducing them.
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