New Antibody Could End Social Distancing And Be Available By Mid-July
What has been a worldwide nightmare could be ending in a dream come true.
Just as governments around the globe cautiously are allowing slow re-openings of certain businesses and public places – the beaches in Los Angeles, for example – a San Diego biopharmaceutical company has developed what it claims is a cure for the novel coronavirus.
Sorrento Therapeutics has announced the discovery of the STI-1499 antibody, which attaches itself to the coronavirus before the virus can multiply, enabling the body to discharge the virus within three to four days.
“As soon as the body is infused, that patient is now immune to the disease,” Dr .Mark Brunswick, senior vice president of Sorrento, told Fox News. “If we were approved (by the FDA) today anyone who gets that antibody can go back to work and have no fear of catching COVID-19.”
The company says it current can administer 200,000 doses per month by mid-July and eventually could provide tens of millions more to meet the needs all around the world.
In addition to STI-1499, it could be used as an antibody “cocktail” in combination with two other elements. This will make it more difficult for the coronavirus to develop resistance to a single antibody.
The enthusiasm at Sorrento is like that of a big-time football rivalry game in which their team has just won.
“We want to emphasis there is a cure,” Sorrento Founder and CEO Dr. Henry Ji, said to Fox News. “There is a solution that works 100 percent.
“If we have the neutralizing antibody in your body, ou don’t need the social distancing. You can open up a society without fear.”
He further explained how the antibody works.
“When the antibody prevents a virus from entering a human cell, the virus cannot survive,” Ji said. “If they cannot get into the cell, they cannot replicate. So it means that if we prevent the virus from getting the cell, the virus eventually dies out; the body clears out that virus.”
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