Animal study shows cocktail therapies work against variants

Covid19 therapies made from a cocktail of two types of antibodies were found to be effective against a wide range of variants of the coronavirus in a study on mice and hamsters scientists sayThe researchers tested single and combination antibody therapies authorised for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration FDA or that are in latestage clinical trials against emerging variants of SARSCoV2 the virus that causes Covid19The study published on Monday in the journal Nature suggests that many but not all therapies made from combinations of two antibodies are effective against awide range of variants of the virus in mice and hamstersThe researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis in the US also found that combination therapies appear to prevent the emergence of drug resistanceThe findings suggest that Covid19 drugs made of two antibodies often retain potency as a therapy against variants even when in vitro studies experiments conducted in a dishldquoWe knew how these antibodies were behaving in vitro but we donrsquot give people drugs based solely on cell culture datardquo said study senior author Michael S Diamond a professor of Medicine at Washington UniversityldquoWhen we looked in animals there were some surprises Some of the combinations performed better than we thought they would based on in vitro data And there was no drug resistance to combinations whatsoever across all of the different variantsrdquo Diamond saidThe researchers said the effectiveness of antibody therapy should be monitored as more variants arise However they noted a combination therapy is likely neededfor treating infections with this virus as more variants emergePakistan to buy 13 crore Pfizer vaccinesPakistan has signed an agreement with Pfizer to procure 13 crore doses of the American Covid19 vaccine a media report said on TuesdayNo virus cases says North KoreaNorth Korea has told the World Health Organisation it tested more than 30000 people for the coronavirus through June 10 but has yet to find a single infectionlsquoGo to India or somewhere to AmericarsquoPhilippinesrsquo President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to arrest Filipinos who donrsquot want to get vaccinated against Covid19 and asked them to leave and ldquogo to India if you want or somewhere to Americardquo Speaking during a prerecorded televised public address on Monday Duterte said the country is facing a national emergency ldquoThere is a crisis being faced in this country If you donrsquot want to get vaccinated I will have you arrested And I will inject the vaccine in your butt You are pests We are already suffering and yoursquore adding to the burdenrdquo Duterte was quoted by INQUIRERNETldquoSo all you Filipinos listening watch out Donrsquot force my hand into it I have a strong arm for that Nobody likes it But if you wonrsquot get vaccinated leave the Philippines Go to India if you want or somewhere to America But as long as you are here and you are a human being that can carry the virus get yourself vaccinatedrdquo Duterte saidAlso ReadTwoday legislative session not enough Devendra FadnavisThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever