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The search for drugs and vaccines against the new coronavirus is in full swing around the world. A research team from Lower Saxony tests 6,000 artificially produced antibodies in human cells, and is making surprising progress.
According to a media report, researchers in Braunschweig have been able to detect antibodies that prevent the virus from entering cells by investigating the new corona virus. “This is clearly an advance that shows that we are on the right track for the development of a drug against Covid-19,” said virologist Luka Cicin-Sain of the Braunschweig Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) of the “Braunschweiger Zeitung” .
Cicin-Sain and his team said the report analyzed 6,000 different human-made human antibodies. The researchers found more than 750 antibodies that couple with the corona virus, a prerequisite for successfully fighting the pathogen. Antibodies are now tested for efficacy in cell culture.
The scientists’ goal is not a vaccine but a medicine to acutely treat seriously ill crown patients: “The active ingredient we are working with is so-called passive immunization,” said Stefan Dübel of the Technical University of Braunschweig. . “The effect is immediate: the antibodies remove the potential of the virus.”
First treatments in autumn?
The search for the best antibody candidate for a subsequent drug should continue until mid-June, said Thomas Schirrmann, of the Yumab biotech company involved in the project. Then the favorites had to be tested and development prepared for clinical practice. “Our vision is that the first corona patients will be treated with the drug in the fall,” said Schirrmacher.
Lower Saxony CDU Science Minister Björn Thümler praised the performance of the research team: “I am extremely pleased with the great success of the research institutes in Lower Saxony, which gives hope for better healing results with Covid- 19 “, said the politician of the” Braunschweiger Zeitung “.
