Good News: California Biotech Firm, Sorrento Therapeutics Develops Covid Antibody
In news that will impact the world, Biotech Firm Sorrento Therapeutics out of California has announced they developed a Chinese virus antibody. The antibody has shown to be effective in stopping the virus from invading healthy cells by 100%. So far the antibody testing has only been performed in petri dish environments. The name of the antibody is STI-1499 and will be introduced into a “cocktail” drug mixture that the company is working to develop. Essentially the antibody will block the Chinese virus from entering cells through a receptor area located on the surface of each cell.
Mount Sinai School of Medicine out of New York is a partner in the program and together they hope for the vaccine to be emergency fast tracked by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Once approved, the company believes it can produce up to 200,000 doses per month. With the help of other drug makers, that could increase considerably. CEO Dr Henry Ji mentioned during an interview that “We want to emphasize there is a cure!”. He continued by adding that “There is a solution that works 100%” If introduced into the body, the antibody will prevent the virus from entering cells and will eventually die off and eliminated from the body because the virus will be unable to replicate. This would be a huge step forward in reopening the economies around the world and eliminate the need to self quarantine and stay away from others.
The antibody would still need to be tested in human trials. There are no known side effects as of yet. Trials would help determine if there are any. However, this is a huge leap forward into Covid prevention. We can only hope this is fast tracked through the FDA that is known for it’s red tape and years of stonewalling. President Trump’s executive order to help the FDA cut read tape has helped cut years off of approval for certain drugs.
