Anthony Pouch vaccination, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, USA▶ Click here to enlarge
Concerns have been raised that antibody treatments for the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) may not be effective against the first mutant virus in South Africa.
“The South African mutant virus is one of our concerns,” said Dave Riggs (CEO) of Eli Lilly, a US pharmaceutical company, on the 12th (local time). said.
Eli Lilly’s COVID-19 antibody treatment was approved for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November last year and is being used to treat infected people.
Riggs said that the company’s treatment is effective against the mutant virus from the UK. In the case of the South African mutant virus, “a more dramatic mutation occurred in the spike protein, the target of our treatment.”
Anthony Pouch, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, expressed a similar view.
Eli Lilly’s COVID-19 antibody treatment▶ Click here to enlarge
Pouch said at the’Schmidt Future Forum’ event on the day that the South African mutant virus could pose a threat to antibody treatments, he said, “I am uneasy.”
According to preliminary data, the South African mutant virus could evade some of the protective functions provided by antibody treatments, “a more threat,” said Pouch.
“It may affect the protective function of a single antibody therapy and perhaps a vaccine,” he said. “It’s a problem that I take very seriously.”
Unlike antibody treatments, vaccines or antiviral treatments can also be effective against mutant viruses, the developers argue.
Ugur Sahin, CEO of Bioentech, Germany, who developed the vaccine with Pfizer, and Daniel Oday, CEO of Gilead Sciences, who created the antiviral drug remdesivir, recently appeared on the air and announced that the company’s products can also prevent mutated viruses.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the South African mutant virus has not yet been found in the United States. At least 72 cases of the UK mutant virus have been reported.
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