US Working With Regeneron To Produce New Coronavirus Treatment
US WORKING ON NEW CORONAVIRUS TREATMENT – Amidst the rising death toll due to the Wuhan coronavirus, the United States had partnered with the drug firm, Regeneron, to develop a new treatment for the virus.
According to an article from the Straits Times, the partnership between the US Department of Health and Human Services and Regeneron would develop monoclonal antibodies against the infection.
This is a different line of treatment from the antiretrovirals and flu drugs that have been used as a potential treatment against it. Currently, the deadly virus has caused 500 deaths and infected over 23,000 others.
Working as public-private partners like we have with Regeneron since 2014, we can move rapidly to respond to new global health threats.
What are monoclonal antibodies?
As per the article are lab-produced copies of a single type of antibody and are a form of immunotherapy. They attach to certain proteins of a virus and neutralize the pathogens ability to infect the cells.
The company had also previously developed a treatment for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus and three monoclonal antibodies that boost survival rates of ebola patients.
The life-saving results seen with our investigational Ebola therapy last year underscore the potential impact of Regeneron’s rapid response platform for addressing emerging outbreaks
Mr George Yancopoulos | Regeneron
Meanwhile, Doctors in Thailand claimed that they had successfully treated two coronavirus patients using a combination of drugs.
DR. Kriangsak, Atipornwanich, a doctor at Rajavithi Hospital in Bangkok, mixed a combination of flu treatments and drugs used in treating HIV. Officials during a press conference stated that the patients’ lab results showed no trace of the virus in their respiratory systems.
Similar methods were also used in Beijing. Drugs given to HIV-AIDs patients were given as part of treatment for the Wuhan coronavirus but, it was still unclear if the methodology used had been successful or not.
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