A new antibody treatment with the potential to give people immediate immunity after exposure to Covid-19 and prevent disease is being piloted by scientists in the UK.
The drug would provide immediate and long-term protection to patients if it were too late to offer a vaccine, potentially saving thousands of lives.
It can be given as emergency treatment to hospital patients, nursing home residents, and college students to help reduce the spread of the virus.
People living with or exposed to COVID can be injected with the drug to avoid becoming infected, even if they haven’t had a coronavirus vaccine.
British scientists at University College London Hospitals NHS (UCLH) have already injected ten people with the drug as part of the new trial called Storm Chaser, which aims to try the new treatment on 1,125 people worldwide. The participants received two consecutive doses of the drug.
They hope the treatment will provide protection against Covid-19 for six months to a year.
A new antibody treatment with the potential to give people immediate immunity after exposure to Covid-19 and prevent disease is being piloted by scientists in the UK. In the photo above a patient in a hospital in Houston, Texas
Scientists at UCLH have also started a second clinical trial called Provent to investigate use of the antibody in people who may not benefit from vaccines, such as those with compromised immune systems or those at risk for Covid-19 infection due to factors such as age and pre-existing conditions.
UCLH injected the ten people – including medical staff and college students – as part of the Storm Chaser trial at its new vaccine research center after the study entered phase three trials on Dec. 2.
The main groups of the trial include health workers, students living in shared accommodation, and patients recently exposed to someone with Covid-19, as well as people in long-term care, the military, and industry personnel such as factory workers.
In the first trial, the antibody, known as AZD7442, was developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which has also developed a vaccine with Oxford University awaiting approval for use by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
In the meantime, the elderly and people in long-term care, as well as people with conditions such as cancer and HIV, will be recruited to participate in the Provent study.
UCLH virologist Dr. Catherine Houlihan, who leads the Storm Chaser study, said: ‘We know that this combination of antibodies can neutralize the virus, so we hope to find that giving this treatment by injection can lead to immediate protection against the development of Covid- 19 in exposed people – if it were too late to offer a vaccine. ‘
Dr. Houlihan said the treatment would be an “ exciting addition ” to efforts being tested and developed to combat the corovavirus, The Guardian reports.
“If we can prove 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 being developed to combat this terrible virus,” she said.
Dr. Nicky Longley, infectious diseases adviser at UCLH, who heads the university portion of Provent, said, “We want to reassure anyone for whom a vaccine may not work that we can offer an alternative that is just as protective.”
Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia and an infectious disease expert, said the new treatment in the Storm Chaser trial could save thousands of lives.
“ If you are dealing with outbreaks in institutions such as care homes, or if you have patients at particular risk of developing severe Covid, such as the elderly, it can save a lot of lives. If confirmed in phase 3 studies, it could play a huge role in keeping people alive who would otherwise die. So it should be something big, ”he said.
If you’ve had an outbreak in a nursing home, you may want to use these types of antibody cocktails to get the outbreak under control as soon as possible by giving the drug to everyone in the nursing home – residents and staff – who isn’t vaccinated.
“Likewise, if you live with your elderly grandmother and you or someone else in the house becomes infected, you can give this to her to protect her.”
The potential breakthrough in immediate immunity treatment is welcome news in the US and around the world, as nearly 119,000 Americans spent Christmas Day in the hospital with COVID-19 and 1,541 more deaths were recorded.
But according to the COVID Tracking Project, 20 states didn’t provide an update on their numbers on Friday, meaning the actual number of deaths across the country could be much higher.
While the total number of hospital admissions on Friday dropped to 118,948 after hitting a new high of 120,151 the previous day, the seven-day average climbed again to a new high on Christmas Day, reaching 117,029.
On Friday, 124,498 new cases were reported, but the COVID Tracking Project warned that the data had been affected by the holiday closures.
The seven-day average for hospital admissions climbed again to a new high on Christmas Day, reaching 117,029 as nearly 1,119,000 COVID-19 patients spent the holiday in the hospital
Nationwide, more than 18.7 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus and 330,246 have been killed.
One of the states that did not provide an update on new cases and deaths on Friday was California, where the outbreak has already pushed the health care system to a breaking point, after reporting 300,000 new cases last week.
Earlier this week, it became the first state to exceed two million cases, as experts remain concerned about a possible further spike caused by Christmas and New Year’s travelers.