This 2020 electron microscopic image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - Rocky Mountain Laboratories shows SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, which cause COVID-19, isolated from a patient in the U.S. (source: SITA)
Our paywall policy:
The Slovak Spectator has decided to make all the articles on the special measures, statistics and basic information about the coronavirus available to everyone. If you appreciate our work and would like to support good journalism, please buy our subscription. We believe this is an issue where accurate and fact-based information is important for people to cope.
The biotechnology company Axon Neuroscience successfully tested the first therapeutic antibodies on a live SARS-Cov-2 virus in a clinical trial in cooperation with the Biomedical Research Centre of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV).
During the development of the COVIDAX vaccine against COVID-19, the
the company was able to develop antibodies that can effectively prevent the multiplication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The trials took place in the Virological Institute of SAV. The results of these tests on the live virus showed that antibodies succeeded in preventing the interaction of the virus with the host cell and subsequent multiplication.
“We observed very unequivocal neutralisation activity with several samples,” said virologist Boris Klempa of SAV, as quoted by TASR.
Drugs and vaccine
By using antibodies that have proven effective in several
independent trials, it was possible to map the vulnerable sections of the virus that are accessible to the immune system.
“Through these steps, we focused on the process of humanisation and then started the production,” explained Norbert Žilka, the scientific director of Axon, as quoted by the TASR newswire. He added that these steps must be taken before clinical trials can begin.
In addition to the COVIDAX vaccine, the company's ambition is to introduce drugs that can stop or alleviate the course of the infectious COVID-19 virus to the market.
