“Here are the antibodies to get out of the tunnel.” Covid, state bets on made in Siena Care

Siena, September 15, 2020 – Minister of Health 1st Roberto Speranza, was surprised in his visit to Siena in ‘Toscana Life Sciences’ by the potential of the anti-Covid therapy developed by the laboratory on monoclonal antibodies, coordinated by Rino Rappuoli. “It is our hope for a cure – said the minister – the research data is interesting, there will still be a lot of work to do, a lot to verify, but we are paving the way to try to have safe and secure treatments that can lead to a positive result. regarding this dramatic challenge. I am very proud of what our researchers and scientists are doing here. “

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Now too Domenico Arcuri, extraordinary commissioner for the Coronavirus emergency and CEO of Invitalia, becomes the path of Sienese treatment and is willing to throw a chip of 380 million euros on the table where the game of therapies and vaccines is played. “We will support the investigation of Reithera of a promising vaccine – are the words of Arcuri – and the work of ‘Toscana Life Sciences’, a leader in the development of monoclonal antibodies ”.

It will be necessary to find a name for it, a more captivating brand in the first cure that can stop the pandemic and cure the infection. Why Monoclonal antibody, monoclonal antibodies, do not ignite the imagination or illuminate with hope the research carried out in the Sienese laboratories of Tls. Revealed by Rino Rappuoli, Global Vaccine Pioneer and Gsk Chief Scientist, also on the pages of Qn in the summer. “By the summer of 2021 – said Rappuoli – we can begin to inject antibodies to the first infected and to health workers. The tests will begin in January, we are already in the first industrial phase ”.

The most important news now it’s money. In the August decree there are 380 million euros, 80 of which immediately, to finance industries and private investigations that are at the forefront in the fight against the Coronavirus. The Tls antibodies and the Rappuoli team are the project that will have the largest participation. The first 50 million will come after the Foundation ‘Toscana Life Sciences’ and Invitalia have created a company for the development of the drug. Both Arcuri and the senior management of Tls, Fabrizio Landi and Andrea Paolini, with the support of Tuscany Region and Mps Foundation, are completing the steps to create a vehicle, capable of using European resources, Recovery Fund or Month, without incurring the risk of state aid.

What will those millions be for? To speed up the industrial phase, because the Rappuoli team’s research has already passed the laboratory phase and is now diverted to the factory phase.

Among the three most effective antibodies, selected from thousands collected in Tuscan hospitals and in Spallanzani, one will now be chosen. What will be transformed into a drug to be injected, in the laboratories of a Swiss company, and then industrially cloned, produced in thousands of doses at Menarini’s plants in Pomezia. The millions from the ministry will be used primarily to produce these doses. At the same time, perhaps in early January, clinical trials of the anti-Covid drug will begin: first by injecting antibodies into healthy volunteers, to show that it does not hurt; then testing it on healthcare workers, probably from Tuscan and Spallanzani hospitals, and on a sample of Covid-infected patients. Success rates can be even lower than those of a potential vaccine: since the drug must treat sick patients and not defend healthy ones from virus attack, success rates and efficacy above 50% could also show promise. Also in mid-2021, AIFA authorization should arrive and large-scale production begins.

This is the calendar of the Italian way against the pandemic. The government and Minister Speranza have also added another gift: to allocate 4 million euros to reactivate block 23 at the Gsk hub in Siena. To transform this plant into the Italian outpost for the production of medicines and vaccines against health emergencies. The 4 million are still at the Conference of State Regions and will be announced at the end of September.