Preparing for human trials of new Covid-19 drug
Scientists at Peking University are preparing to test a Covid-19 drug on humans that could shorten recovery time and provide short-term immunity.
Sunney Xie, director of the Peking University research lab, said the drug had been successfully tested on animals and was awaiting human trials. It uses antibodies found in the plasma of about 60 recovered Covid-19 patients and could be quickly mass-produced.
Initially, scientists tried injecting neutralizing antibodies into infected mice. As a result, after 5 days, the amount of virus in their bodies decreased 2,500 times. If neutralizing antibodies were injected into healthy mice, they would be completely immune to the virus.
“That means this drug has the potential to be an effective treatment,” said Mr. Xie.
The team’s research, published in the scientific journal Cell on May 17, suggests that antibodies are a potential treatment to shorten treatment and recovery times. Xie said the team has been working around the clock to find the antibodies.
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| Mr. Sunney Xie - Director of the research department at Peking University, China. Photo: AFP |
The team is planning clinical trials for the new drug, which could be tested in Australia or other countries as the number of Covid-19 cases in China is still very low. As of May 19, China recorded 85 Covid-19 patients being treated out of a total of nearly 83,000 infections.
Using plasma from recovered patients to treat Covid-19 is not new. At least 700 patients in China have been treated this way. The US has a similar research project. The downside of this method is that the supply of plasma is limited.
However, what sets the Peking University team apart is that the 14 neutralizing antibodies used in their experimental drug can be mass-produced quickly.
There is currently only one drug licensed to treat Covid-19, Remdesivir, produced in the US. The drug, licensed for use in the US and Japan, helps shorten the recovery time of patients by 1/3.
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| The team has been working to find a drug to stop the pandemic. Photo: AFP |
There are about 100 Covid-19 vaccine development projects worldwide, with China having five vaccines that have entered the human testing phase.
Xie’s team hopes the Covid-19 drug will be the first to reach the target, as vaccine development requires rigorous measures. “We can stop the pandemic with an effective drug, even without a vaccine,” Xie stressed.
