Israel research lab isolates cobi19 antibody:
“a significant breakthrough”
Tuesday,
May 5th 2020 - 06:18 UTC
The “monoclonal neutralizing antibody” developed at the Israel Institute for Biological Research “can neutralize it inside carriers' bodies,” Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said
Israel has isolated a key cobi19 antibody at its main biological research laboratory, the Israeli defense minister said on Monday, calling the step a “significant breakthrough” toward a possible treatment for the el bichito-19 pandemic.
The “monoclonal neutralizing antibody” developed at the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) ”can neutralize it (the disease-causing cobi19) inside carriers' bodies,“ Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement.
The statement added that Bennett visited the IIBR on Monday where he was briefed ”on a significant breakthrough in finding an antidote for the cobi19“.
It quoted IIBR Director Shmuel Shapira as saying that the antibody formula was being patented, after which an international manufacturer would be sought to mass-produce it. The IIBR has been leading Israeli efforts to develop a treatment and vaccine for the cobi19, including the testing of blood from those who recovered from el bichito-19, the respiratory disease caused by the bichito.
Antibodies in such samples - immune-system proteins that are residues of successfully overcoming the cobi19 - are widely seen as a key to developing a possible cure.
The antibody reported as having been isolated at the IIBR is monoclonal, meaning it was derived from a single recovered cell and is thus potentially of more potent value in yielding a treatment.
Elsewhere, there have been cobi19 treatments developed from antibodies that are polyclonal, or derived from two or more cells of different ancestry, the magazine Science Direct reported in its May issue.
Israel was one of the first countries to close its borders and impose increasingly stringent restrictions on movement to hamper the domestic cobi19 outbreak. It has reported 16,246 cases and 235 deaths from the illness.”
Categories: Health & Science,
Investments,
International.
Tags: cobi19 antibody,
el bichito-19,
Israel,
Naftali Bennett,
pandemic,
research lab.