Virus mutation challenges the development of new crown drugs

recently, a variety of mutant new coronavirus in South Africa, the United Kingdom and even Germany and other places, resulting in a surge in infections in those countries. Some scientists say mutations in places such as the UK and South Africa allow the new coronavirus to avoid the immune response, which could lead to a reduction in the effectiveness of certain antibody drugs.In light of this, some pharmaceutical companies are stepping up research and development of a new generation of coronary pneumonia drugs to combat virus mutations, the Wall Street Journal reported recently.

virus mutation challenges antibody therapyRecently, in the United Kingdom, South Africa, respectively, called B.1.1.7, 501Y. The new coronavirus variant of V2 has attracted great attention. In addition, the German Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation reported on January 18th that a new coronavirus has been found in Bavaria that is different from the mutation previously found in the UK and South Africa.These strains are more capable of spreading than previous strains. Even if these strains are not more lethal, they may further burden the health care system. Moreover, the more people infected with the virus, the more likely it is that the virus will mutate, which may reduce the effectiveness of existing drugs.Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said in an earlier interview that 501Y. V2's new coronavirus variant is worrying because it appears to invalidate certain medical responses, especially antibody drugs.Anthony Folch, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNBC: "The discovery of a variant of the new coronavirus in South Africa is worrying and could pose a threat to existing new coronary antibody therapies., experts say that while there is no evidence that the new coronavirus mutation affects the effectiveness of existing vaccines, these variants could still reduce the effectiveness of monoclonal antibody drugs, CNBC reported. "Vaccines trigger an immune response that attacks different parts of the virus, but monoclonal antibodies target only specific parts of the virus," Folch said.CNBC reported on January 13th that Dave Rix, chief executive of Lilly, said a variant found in South Africa threatened to invalidate an antibody drug the company made. Lilly's antibody drug for the new coronavirus was approved by the FDA for emergency use in November 2020.Rickles said they were concerned about the new coronavirus variant because of the larger mutation in the strain's hedgehog protein, which is "just a target for antibody drugs, so theoretically this variant can escape the attack of antibody drugs.""Cocktail" drugs are less affectedhowever, the Wall Street Journal reported that Jesse Bloom, an associate professor and biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the United States, said another FDA-mandated drug should remain effective because the drug, made by Regenerative Pharmaceuticals of america, is a cocktail drug that mixes two different antibodies, only one of which is affected by 501Y.V2."We've been looking for a 'cocktail' therapy from the start, and if something mutates, there's an effective drug," said Christo Kiratsu, vice president of infectious disease and viral vector technology at Regenerative Meta Pharmaceuticals. Thepharmaceutical company says its drug appears to be effective against a variant of the UK. The company is also developing more "cocktail drugs" to deal with future viral variants that could make its drugs resistant.A Lilly spokesman said the company's drug bamlanivimab could be tested in a laboratory against a mutant strain found in the UK. But independent scientists say they can't confirm the drug's effectiveness because Lilly hasn't released the antibody's genetic sequence.

"broadly medium" antibodies are favoredThe Wall Street Journal reported that researchers are working on "broad neutral" antibodies in anticipation of drug-resistant virus variants. They believe the antibody is effective against many different coronavirus variants. Adimabu has received a $130 million venture capital investment and plans to begin clinical trials of a drug this month. The company said the drug could be licensed as soon as the third quarter. Uniquely, Weir Biotech of the United States and GlaxoSmithKline of the United Kingdom are also working together to test an antibody drug. They hope that even if a new variant of the new coronavirus emerges, the antibody drug will still be effective. George Scangos, chief executive of Weir Biotech, explains that most antibody drugs only prevent viruses from entering new cells, but the antibodies they develop activate other immune systems to attack the virus when they infect cells. Magic is a foot tall, Tao is a foot high! The new coronavirus is constantly changing, and human struggle with it is also a race against time. (Science and Technology Daily)