Monoclonal antibodies attaching to coronaviruses.
With green light from the FDA, Rockefeller scientists started human trials this week for a new monoclonal antibody drug as a potential treatment for COVID-19.
Monoclonal antibodies are mass-produced replicas of natural antibodies made by the immune system to fight viruses. Designed to prevent people with early COVID-19 from developing severe disease, the treatment can be life-saving and is urgently needed as hospitals continue to be inundated by repeated surges of infection, and mass vaccinations are still several months away.
“If administered early, monoclonal antibodies could stop the virus in its tracks before the immune system has had enough time to develop its own antibodies,” says Michel C. Nussenzweig, head of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, who led the project in collaboration with Paul Bieniasz, Marina Caskey, Theodora Hatziioannou, Charles M. Rice, and others.