The corona pandemic is not enough with vaccines.
Virologists like Ulrike Protzer can explain why.
"The SARS-CoV-2 virus and its relatives will continue to accompany mankind in the future," says the professor at the Technical University of Munich and head of the Institute for Virology there.
Against the background of future, possibly even more contagious variants, in addition to vaccination, one also needs a broadly effective active ingredient against the virus.
Thiemo Heeg
Editor in business.
Follow I follow
Protzer and a team of scientists from the TU, Ludwig Maximilians University, Helmholtz Munich and the biotech company Formycon are currently working on a drug project that is raising hopes.
They have developed a protein that reliably prevents infection in cell experiments.
To do this, they linked the ACE2 protein, which sits on the surface of human cells and is used by the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein as a gateway, with part of a human antibody protein.
This stable combination offers the coronavirus its most important goal - and thus neutralizes it.
Also effective against future mutations
"Since optimal docking with the ACE2 protein is essential for the virus to survive, the virus cannot evade a drug that is based precisely on this protein," explains biotechnology professor Johannes Buchner, who worked on the fusion protein called FYB207.
It will therefore also work safely against future mutations.
Formycon CEO Carsten Brockmeyer hopes that the first clinical studies could start in the first half of the year.
The example shows: 2021 was the year of vaccines, 2022 could be the year of medicines.
More than 600 are currently being tested.
Some are already approved.
The most promising are in the starting blocks.
These include Paxlovid from Pfizer and Lagevrio / Molnupiravir from Merck & Co., two therapeutics in tablet form.
Paxlovid is said to prevent serious illnesses with a probability of around 90 percent.
It mainly consists of a so-called protease inhibitor, which inhibits enzymes that break down proteins and thus prevents the virus from multiplying.
Karl Lauterbach, among others, has high hopes for Paxlovid.
The Federal Minister of Health calls the drug "extremely promising".
Not only Germany trusts in the new development.
The Americans have ordered ten million packs at a price of 4.7 billion euros, the federal government has ordered one million packs.
Deliveries are to take place in January.
Berlin doesn't want to lose any time
Even if the drug is comparatively expensive and its use is limited, Berlin does not want to lose any time. Lauterbach, together with the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, initiated the procedure for emergency approval in Germany. The US FDA had issued emergency approvals for paxlovid and molnupiravir shortly before Christmas. The two agents are not yet officially approved in the European Union. However, according to the Yellow List Pharmaceutical Index, it should be possible to prescribe molnupiravir since the beginning of January without approval by doctors - for patients with risk factors for a severe course of the disease.
The two Covid tablets are viewed by some as medical milestones in the pandemic. However, they only represent a small part of the extensive global work with the aim of not only fighting the coronavirus preventively via vaccines, but also therapeutically after an infection. There are a number of ways to do this. The protease inhibitor paxlovid is one of the antivirals that try to prevent the activity, build-up or reproduction of the virus in the body. So-called monoclonal antibodies also play an important role in the worldwide efforts of researchers and companies. They bind structures on the virus itself or block receptors on human cells, for example to prevent the virus from entering the cell.
"There are now several drugs with monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of Covid-19 available," knows the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which is responsible for drug approval in Germany.
They include Ronapreve (casirivimab / Imdevimab) from Roche and Regkirona (regdanvimab) from Celltrion.
The two are the first monoclonal antibodies for corona therapy to receive approval from the European Commission.
Another was added in December: the commission expanded the area of application of Roche's monoclonal antibody Roactemra (tocilizumab), which was previously mainly used against arthritis, to include the treatment of severe corona cases.
Xevudy (sotrovimab) from Glaxo Smith Kline has also been approved in the EU since December 17.
Nasal sprays that catch viruses directly
The list of therapeutic agents is by no means exhausted. Researchers are testing nasal sprays that are supposed to catch viruses in the upper respiratory tract. There are cardiovascular drugs and immunomodulators that are designed to prevent the human immune system from “overshooting” the human immune system in the event of an infection. They are also working on drugs for lung function and long-covid drugs.
It is difficult to assess what all of this means in economic terms.
One thing is clear: pharmaceutical giants such as Pfizer and Astra-Zeneca play a role as well as small biotech companies à la Formycon.
The example of Biontech in the vaccines sector has shown that the distribution of roles can change quickly: two years ago, experts were at best a term, today it is probably a majority of Germans.
At least there are indications that therapeutics are developing into gigantic business.
Analysts expect paxlovid manufacturer Pfizer to break the $ 100 billion mark for the first time this year.