The current vaccines do not offer 100% protection against COVID-19 and, moreover, not everyone chooses to get vaccinated. A research laboratory of the UZ Gent has therefore developed an antibody therapy that can be used as a supplement or alternative, at first sight also against the delta variant.
Prof. Dr. Linos Vandekerckhove: "Vaccination is very effective, but unfortunately certain people fall by the wayside. Just think of someone who recently received chemotherapy or for other reasons does not produce good antibodies. For them, the development of other therapies remains very important."
New, successful antibody therapy
When infected with the coronavirus, the white blood cells produce antibodies. Prof. Vandekerckhove's research laboratory has succeeded in selecting from the blood of recovered COVID-19 patients the antibodies that can be administered in the lowest possible dose and still render the virus harmless. These antibodies can be counterfeited on a large scale and then administered as 'antibody therapy'. It is striking that these are 'unique' antibodies, which are not yet used in other, existing antibody therapies, but which achieve equally good and in some cases even better results. This is stated in a news item on the website of UZ Gent.
Preventive and as a treatment, as a supplement or as a replacement for vaccine
The therapy can be used both therapeutically and preventively, whether or not in combination with the existing vaccines. This is good news for people who did not want or could not get a corona vaccine and for people with a reduced resistance. "From the very beginning, we have focused on the use of plasma from people who have experienced COVID-19 in patients who could not offer sufficient resistance to the virus themselves. Now we have further refined this treatment to treat more people very safely," says Delphine Acar of the research lab.
The therapy has already been tested on hamsters, with success. The antibodies were found to be effective in curing COVID-19, also in terms of the delta variant. As soon as the antibody therapy can be produced on a large scale, a phase 1 study with test subjects can start.
