Direct: Last minute of the coronavirus
British scientists are testing a new drug that could prevent someone who has been exposed to the
coronavirus from
developing
Covid-19
disease
, which experts say could save many lives, according to The Guardian newspaper.
Antibody therapy would confer
instant immunity
against the disease and could be given as emergency treatment to hospitalized patients and nursing home residents to help contain outbreaks.
People who live in households where someone has contracted
Covid
could be injected with this new drug to make sure they don't get infected as well.
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 leads a study called
Storm Chaser
on this drug, has assured The Guardian that "if we can show that this treatment works and prevent people who are exposed to the virus continue to develop
Covid-19
, it would be a very important addition to the arsenal of weapons that are being developed to combat this terrible virus. "
The drug has been developed by UCLH and AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical company that has also, together with the University of Oxford, created a vaccine that the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency is expected to approve for use in Britain next week.
The team hopes the trial will show that the antibody cocktail protects against
Covid-19
for between six and 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 eight days prior to the first test.
It could be available at the earliest in March or April if approved by the drug regulator after reviewing the study evidence.
The trial involves UCLH, several other British hospitals and a network of
100 sites around the world
.
This month,
University College
hospital
became the first site in the world to recruit patients for the randomized control trial and give them the injection or a placebo.
"To date, we have injected 10 participants - staff, students, and others - who were exposed to the virus at home, in a healthcare setting, or in student residences," Houlihan said.
She and her colleagues closely follow the participants to see which one develops
Covid-19
.
The
immediate protection
that the drug promises could play a vital role in
reducing the impact of the virus
until everyone is immunized.
The
vaccination
program
is underway using the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and is expected to last until next summer.
Britain's health system accelerated deployment of the vaccine this week after criticism from hospital chiefs, GP leaders and former health secretary Jeremy Hunt that it was taking too long.
"The advantage of this drug is that it
provides
you
with immediate antibodies
," Houlihan said.
"We could tell trial participants who have been exposed:
yes, they can get vaccinated
. But we wouldn't tell them that would protect them from the disease, because by then it is too late because the Pfizer and Oxford vaccines do not confer full immunity for approximately one month.
Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia specializing in infectious diseases, said the new treatment could significantly reduce the number of deaths from
Covid
.
"If you're dealing with outbreaks in settings like
nursing homes
, or if you have patients who are particularly at risk for
severe
Covid
, such as the elderly, then this
could save a lot of lives
. As long as it's confirmed in phase 3 trials, it could. play an important role in keeping people alive who would otherwise die. So it should be something important, "he said.
"If you had an
outbreak
in a nursing home, you may want to use these types of antibody cocktails to control the outbreak as soon as possible by giving the drug to everyone in the nursing home, residents, and staff. Likewise, if you live with your elderly grandmother and you or someone else in the house gets infected, so you could give this to protect her, "he adds.
The drug involves a long-acting antibody combination known as
AZD7442
, which has been developed by
AstraZeneca
.
Instead of antibodies made by the body to help fight an infection,
AZD7442
uses
monoclonal antibodies
, which have been created in a laboratory.
In documents about a clinical trial that
AstraZeneca
has registered in the United States, it explains that it is investigating "the efficacy of
AZD7442
for post-
exposure
prophylaxis
of Covid-19
in adults. The
Sars-CoV-2
spike protein
contains the RBD [ receptor] of the virus, which allows the virus to bind to receptors on human cells.By targeting this region of the virus spike protein,
the antibodies can block the virus from binding to human cells
and thus , they are expected to block the infection. "
In a separate trial, called
Provent
, UCLH is investigating whether the drug
might also protect people with compromised immune systems
, such as those undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, who have recently been exposed to the virus but have not received a vaccine. or in those who have not resulted in immunity due to their underlying condition.
Both the Provent and Storm Chaser tests
are now in phase 3
.
Dr. Nicky Longley, infectious diseases consultant at UCLH, who leads the second study, has assured that "we will recruit older people or in long-term care, and who suffer from conditions such
as cancer and HIV
that can affect the capacity of your system to respond to a
vaccine
. We want to assure anyone for whom a
vaccine
doesn't work that we can offer an alternative that is just as protective. "
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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