Coronavirus: A drug offering immediate immunity is on the way

Continued optimistic messages in the battle against coronavirus. While our country has already received the first batch of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, in the UK a new drug is in the testing phase that is expected to play a catalytic role in stopping the virus.

According to a Guardian article, antibody treatment can provide immediate immunity, preventing someone who has been exposed to the virus from developing covid-19 infection.

The scientists stress that the drug could be administered to people who spend a large part of their day indoors in places that are hotbeds of disease transmission, such as patients and workers in care centres, students or even in households.

Η Dr. Catherine Houlihan, virologist at University College London Hospitals NHS Trust (UCLH), which is leading a study called Storm Chaser on the drug, said: «If we can prove that this treatment works and prevents people exposed to the virus from developing Covid-19, it would be an exciting addition to the arsenal to fight this dreaded virus.».

The drug has been developed by UCLH and AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical company that, together with the University of Oxford, has developed a vaccine that is expected to be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency in Britain next week. The team hopes the trials will show that the cocktail of antibodies protects against Covid-19 for six to 12 months. Participants in the trial take it in two doses, one after the other. If approved, it will be offered to someone who has been exposed to the virus in the previous eight days.

According to the publication, if approved by the competent authority and after checking the study data, the medicine could be available in March or April. The tests are carried out in cooperation with ULCH (University College London Hospitals NHS Trust), many other UK hospitals and a network of 100 sites worldwide.

This month University College Hospital became the first site in the world to recruit patients to the randomised control trial and give them the drug or a placebo. «To date we have injected 10 participants - staff, students and others - who were exposed to the virus at home, in a health care setting or student halls,» Houlihan said. She and her colleagues will closely monitor the participants to see which one of them will develop Covid-19.

The immediate protection promised by the drug could play a vital role in reducing the impact of the virus until everyone is immune. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccination programme with the vaccine is already underway and is expected to last until next summer. «The advantage of this drug is that it gives you antibodies immediately», Houlihan said. «We could say to trial participants who have been exposed: yes, you can get the vaccine. But we wouldn't tell them it will protect them from the disease because it's too late by then. And that's because the Pfizer and Oxford vaccines don't provide full immunity for about a month.».

Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia who specialises in infectious diseases, said. the new treatment could significantly reduce the number of deaths from Covid. «If you are experiencing outbreaks in environments such as care centres or if you have patients who are at particular risk of becoming seriously ill from Covid, such as the elderly, then this could save a lot of lives. If confirmed in phase 3 trials, it could play an important role in keeping people alive who would otherwise die. So it must be very important,» he said.

«If you have had an outbreak in a care centre, you may want to use these antibody cocktails to control the outbreak as soon as possible, giving the drug to everyone - residents and staff - who have not been vaccinated. Similarly, if you live with your elderly grandmother and you or someone else in the house becomes infected, then you could give her this to protect her.».

How the new coronavirus drug works

The drug includes a combination of a long-acting antibody known as AZD7442, which has been developed by AstraZeneca. Instead of antibodies produced by the body to help fight an infection, AZD7442 uses monoclonal antibodies, which have been created in a laboratory.

In documents in a clinical trial in which the AstraZeneca registered in the US, explains that it is investigating «the efficacy of AZD7442 for prophylaxis after exposure of Covid-19 to adults. The spike protein Sars-CoV-2 contains the virus's RBD [receptor binding domain], which allows the virus to bind to receptors on human cells. By targeting this region of the virus protein, antibodies can block the attachment of the virus to human cells and are therefore expected to block infection.

In a separate test, called Provent, UCLH is investigating whether the drug could also protect people with reduced immune system, such as those submitted to chemotherapy for cancer, who have recently been exposed to the virus but either have not had the vaccine or have not acquired immunity even if they have had the vaccine because of their underlying condition. Both Provent and Storm Chaser tests are now in phase 3.

Dr. Nicky Longley, an infectious disease consultant at UCLH, who is leading the second study, said: «We will recruit people who are older or in long-term care and who have diseases such as 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 alternative that is equally protective». Both trials are being carried out at UCLH's new vaccine research centre, which is funded by the research arm of the NHS, the National Institute for Health Research and led by Professor Vincenzo Libri.

Dr. Richard Jarvis, co-chair of the Public Health Committee of the British Medical Association, said: «For the vast majority of the population, vaccination offers the best protection against Covid-19 and NHS staff are working around the clock to get the vaccine to as many vulnerable patients as possible in this first phase of its availability. «It will certainly be interesting to see if these trials are effective. However, it is important that new treatments are thoroughly investigated, tested and, most importantly, that they are safe before we consider introducing them.»