NewsBytes
    Hindi Tamil Telugu
    More
    In the news
    Narendra Modi
    Amit Shah
    Box Office Collection
    Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
    OTT releases
    Hindi Tamil Telugu
    NewsBytes
    User Placeholder

    Hi,

    Logout

    India
    Business
    World
    Politics
    Sports
    Technology
    Entertainment
    Auto
    Lifestyle
    Inspirational
    Career
    Bengaluru
    Delhi
    Mumbai

    Download Android App

    Follow us on
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Linkedin
    Home / News / Technology News / Reportedly, China's novel drug can treat and prevent COVID-19 infection
    Next Article
    Reportedly, China's novel drug can treat and prevent COVID-19 infection

    Reportedly, China's novel drug can treat and prevent COVID-19 infection

    By Shubham Sharma
    May 19, 2020
    07:56 pm

    What's the story

    A team of scientists hailing from China claims to have developed a novel drug that can treat as well as prevent COVID-19 infection.

    They say that the medicine has proven successful in animal trials and could finally offer a way to end the pandemic that has swept across countries, killing more than 3 lakh people, over the last five months.

    Here's more about it.

    Drug

    Drug from Peking University in China

    Developed by China's Peking University, the drug in question has been created with 14 neutralizing antibodies isolated from the blood of 60 recovered COVID-19 cases.

    Sunney Xie, the Director of the university's Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics, told AFP that the drug could shorten the recovery period of COVID-19 patients as well as give them short-term immunity to fight off the deadly disease.

    Trials

    Viral load reduced by factor of 2,500 in animal trials

    Xie, whose work has been published in the journal Cell, said that early animal trials with the drug have shown promising results.

    "When we injected neutralizing antibodies into infected mice, after five days the viral load was reduced by a factor of 2,500," he said, noting that the potential drug clearly has a therapeutic effect.

    Information

    Injecting before infection offered immunity

    In addition to reducing viral load, the novel drug was also able to offer protection to the mice - when given before they contracted the coronavirus. This led Xie to suggest that the drug could offer weeks, perhaps even months, of immunity to its takers.

    Antibodies

    Scientists exploring antibodies for fighting COVID-19 infection

    The development comes from the idea that antibodies or proteins generated by the immune system to fight off viruses like novel coronavirus could be used to treat infected COVID-19 patients.

    "Our expertise is single-cell genomics rather than immunology or virology," Xie said. "When we realized that the single-cell genomic approach can effectively find the neutralizing antibody [needed to fight the virus], we were thrilled."

    Drug

    Will be ready for use later this year, says Xie

    Xie says they are preparing to conduct a clinical human trial of the drug in Australia and other countries and hoping to have it ready and approved for widespread public use later this year.

    "The hope is these neutralized antibodies can become a specialized drug that would stop the pandemic," which started spreading from China in December 2019.

    Vaccines

    Over 100 vaccine candidates have been developed so far

    The new drug comes as scientists across the world continue to race for a COVID-19 vaccine.

    So far, more than 100 candidate vaccines have been developed and about a dozen are in clinical trials.

    However, given that vaccine development is a more taxing process, Xie thinks this drug may offer a faster and more efficient way to deal with the ongoing health crisis.

    Facebook
    Whatsapp
    Twitter
    Linkedin
    Related News
    Latest
    COVID-19
    China

    Latest

    Bharat Pavilion inaugurated at Cannes Film Festival 2025 Anupam Kher
    Centre cancels security clearance of Turkish firm Celebi Aviation Greece
    Virat Kohli ruled the roost at these Test venues Virat Kohli
    Radhika Apte's 'Sister Midnight' to hit theaters on May 23 Cannes Film Festival

    COVID-19

    Singapore deploys 'robo-dog' to make sure people observe social distancing Singapore
    Coronavirus: India's tally crosses 70,000; death toll reaches 2,294 Madhya Pradesh
    Coronavirus: Red zones could remain locked down after May 17 Narendra Modi
    Wuhan's entire population to be tested for COVID-19: Details here United States of America

    China

    China: Theater reopens after two months, but nobody shows up Box Office
    Italy sees worst-ever day, 475 die of coronavirus in 24-hours Italy
    Coronavirus crisis: Follow 'janata curfew' on Sunday, urges Narendra Modi India
    Coronavirus: More people have died in Italy than epicenter China Italy
    Indian Premier League (IPL) Celebrity Hollywood Bollywood UEFA Champions League Tennis Football Smartphones Cryptocurrency Upcoming Movies Premier League Cricket News Latest automobiles Latest Cars Upcoming Cars Latest Bikes Upcoming Tablets
    About Us Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Contact Us Ethical Conduct Grievance Redressal News News Archive Topics Archive Download DevBytes Find Cricket Statistics
    Follow us on
    Facebook Twitter Linkedin
    All rights reserved © NewsBytes 2025