An ICU Nurse Is First on Planet to Receive Antibody Injection Designed to Protect Against COVID-19

An ICU Nurse Is First on Planet to Receive Antibody Injection Designed to Protect Against COVID-19.

An ICU nurse is the first on the planet to get a new antibody cocktail injection which has been specifically designed to protect people from COVID-19. This new antibody treatment, developed by AstraZeneca will be trialled on 1,000 people in the UK and has the potential to protect people instantly and last between six months and a year. It is also hoped it can target healthcare professionals to keep frontline workers safe from the virus.

After ICU nurse Karen received the injection, she was monitored by a paramedic and according to all reports, is doing well so far. The next recipient to have the injection is a friend of Karen’s, a healthcare worker in Yorkshire – another person who will do what it takes in order to live a normal life.

Monoclonal antibodies mimic natural antibodies that the body generates to fight off infection. They can be synthesised in the laboratory and are already used to treat some types of cancer.

AstraZeneca said its COVID-19 cocktail – which combines two monoclonal antibodies – has the potential both to treat and prevent disease progression in patients already infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and to be given as a preventative medication prior to people such as healthcare workers being exposed to the virus.

“These have been engineered specifically to have what we call a long half-life, (so) we think they will confer protection for (at least) six, but more likely closer to 12 months,” Mene Pangalos, AstraZeneca’s executive vice president of biopharmaceuticals R&D, told reporters at a briefing.


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Tony Winterburn

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