AstraZeneca: will a new crown drug with immediate effect arrive soon?

AstraZeneca: will a new crown drug with immediate effect arrive soon?

Corona vaccines have a downside: They don’t protect right away. But a new antibody drug from pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca could make you immediately immune to Covid-19. Researchers await approval soon.

Nicole Sagener / t-online

When it comes to AstraZeneca, most people will probably think of the corona vaccine that the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company is developing with the University of Oxford, and which has since been approved in several countries. But AstraZeneca is still investigating another beacon of hope against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

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This is a drug intended to prevent Covid 19 disease in people who have been exposed to the coronavirus immediately after administration. According to experts, the active ingredient under the name AZD7442 could represent an important addition to approved vaccines and help save the lives of many people in the corona pandemic.

AstraZeneca anti-corona drug: a good addition to vaccination?

Because even if vaccines can make an important contribution to ending the corona pandemic, they still have a drawback: as a rule, they only take effect after several weeks, and therefore protection only begins with a delay. In particular, if two vaccines are necessary for complete protection, as is the case with the active ingredient Biontech, there is still a risk of serious disease for some time. The crown drug developed by University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) and AstraZeneca, on the other hand, would immunize immediately.

The principle behind the preparation: AZD7442 uses a combination of two long-lasting antibodies that were taken from recovered Covid-19 patients and produced in the laboratory. Anyone who has been directly exposed to SARS-CoV-2 could be protected from getting Covid-19 by the active ingredient.

“Exciting addition” in the fight against the virus

“If we can show that this treatment works and prevents people exposed to the virus from contracting COVID-19, it would be an exciting addition to the arsenal of weapons being developed to combat this terrible virus,” Will Virologist Dr. Catherine Houlihan of University College London Hospitals NHS Trust (UCLH), who runs a study called Storm Chaser (German: Sturmjäger) on the drug AZD7442, quoted in the British newspaper “The Guardian”.

AstraZeneca began voluntary testing with the support of the US government in late August. The third and decisive phase III of the study began in mid-October with more than 1,100 test subjects. In this last phase, the effectiveness and safety of the active ingredient must be verified.

Also tested in people with weakened immune systems

The researchers involved hoping for an emergency approval as early as spring, should the drug prove to be effective and safe in the study. According to The Guardian, it could be used to treat nursing home residents or patients in hospitals, for example.

In another phase III study, UCLH London is also investigating whether the potential corona drug could also be used in people with weakened immune systems who cannot get vaccinated due to cancer or another disease that weakens the immune system.