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While the death toll from covid rises to very worrying levels, Argentina became the scene of a scientific dispute over hyperimmune equine serum.

Approved by local control authorities and presented by President Alberto Fernández himself, the serum that was called to relieve seriously ill patients from the virus is now being questioned by an important sector of the medical community.

The

Argentine Society of Intensive Care (SATI) "strongly recommended not to use" equine serum "in patients admitted to intensive care

, in those who require mechanical ventilation or in those who received treatment with convalescent plasma," according to "Clarín".

The SATI added that "clinical efficacy goals were not demonstrated and no significant differences were found between those who received the serum and those who received placebo."

The contradiction astonished those who followed the evolution of the case.

The hyperimmune equine serum,

which bears the trade name "CoviFab", is a liquid produced by a group of scientists from the laboratory of the National University of San Martín (Unsam).

According to the authors of the study, the serum reduces the mortality of patients with covid by up to 45 percent, the need for intensive therapy by 24 percent, and the requirement for mechanical ventilation in patients with a canal by 36 percent. moderate to severe disease.

"In patients who are getting worse and do not develop their own immune response in time, the supply of antibodies exogenously by this passive immunotherapy allows avoiding viral proliferation and giving the patient time to develop their own defenses, avoiding the generalized respiratory inflammation caused by this disease, "said Fernando Goldbaum, director of the Center for Redesign and Protein Engineering at Unsam, to the state news agency Télam.

According to

specialized scientific media, the serum is "an immunotherapy based on equine polyclonal antibodies with great neutralizing capacity against SARS-CoV-2".

How is it obtained?

"Using as antigen a recombinant protein of the virus, which is produced by biotechnology techniques".

The media adds that "polyclonal antibodies have the advantage that they recognize and bind in several regions to the key molecule of the virus, blocking the sites of interaction with its receptors", and that "they can be produced rapidly on a large scale".

So far, everything sounds clearly positive, but the irruption of a local medical sector questioning the equine serum cast shadows of doubt on the Argentine scientific advance.

Goldbaum, who in addition to his position at Unsam is scientific director of the biotechnology company Inmunova, this week gave more details about the treatment and its benefits.

According to Goldbaum, only five percent of those infected with covid can undergo treatment with equine serum.

In a radio interview, he added that equine serum is indicated for "moderate to severe patients," but not those requiring intensive care or a respirator.

Despite the fact that the country is in the middle of summer, the first wave of COVID infections never gave Argentina a break, which today has one of the highest mortality rates in the world.

The Fernández government negotiates to obtain enough vaccines to immunize the 45 million Argentines

, but so far without success.

Vaccination began with only 300,000 doses to medical workers thanks to an agreement with Vladimir Putin for Argentina to acquire Sputnik V, which was approved on an emergency basis and without completing all the steps with which other vaccines that have not yet arrived in the country did. .

Inmunova is a company that belongs to the Insud group, owned by Argentine businessman Hugo Sigman, a close friend of King Emeritus Juan Carlos and former Prime Minister Felipe González.

Sigman also has medical laboratories in Spain and owns a laboratory in Argentina, mAbxience, which is producing, with a delay, the

AstraZeneca

vaccine

that was to be distributed throughout Latin America.

Faced with the bottleneck caused by vaccines around the world and the hoarding by the most powerful countries, Argentina seeks to obtain more Russian vaccines while negotiating with China.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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