Max Minute: Companies Say Manufactured Antibodies May Treat Or Even Prevent Coronavirus Infections
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There is some encouraging news about potential treatments for COVID-19.
In his latest Max Minute report, CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez reported Wednesday that companies are announcing that manufactured antibodies may treat or even prevent coronavirus infections.
Antibodies in the plasma of recovered patients, so-called "convalescent plasma," have been used to treat COVID-19 with varying degrees of success. There are just too many variables in that plasma. Plus, there's not enough of it around. That's why companies have been working to test and manufacture abundant amounts of specific anti-coronavirus antibodies.
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Regeneron, a Tarrytown, New York company, announced that its cocktail of two monoclonal antibodies, dubbed "REGN-COV2," reduced coronavirus levels in a small trial of patients.
The 275 patients had mild to moderate forms of the disease, but were not hospitalized. REGN-COV2 reduced the time it took to alleviate symptoms, especially in patients who had not made significant antibodies on their own.
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Regeneron said it will quickly seek possible emergency U.S. authorization for REGN-COV2.
Meanwhile, a second company, Sorrento Therapeutics, has developed its neutralizing antibody cocktail, dubbed "COVI-SHIELD." It's a highly effective combination of antibodies designed to both block different strains of coronavirus, as well as prevent a known vaccine and antibody complication that can actually make viral infections much worse.
COVI-SHIELD has Food and Drug Administration approval for clinical trials. Dr. Henry Ji, Sorrento's CEO, told Gomez that unlike vaccines, these antibody trials can speed from Phase 1 to Phase 3 in just weeks, raising hopes for a safe and effective COVID-19 treatment in the near future.
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