PLACEHOLDER VACCINES?
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is exploring a
different approach: simply injecting people
with coronavirus-fighting antibodies instead of
teaching the body to make its own. This method
could provide temporary protection against
infection or work as a treatment for someone
already infected.
Regeneron vaccinated mice genetically
engineered to make human antibodies.
From small blood samples, researchers
culled hundreds of different antibodies, and
now they’re teasing out which seem most
potent against that notorious spike protein,
said Christos Kyratsous, Regeneron’s chief of
infectious disease research.
Regeneron developed this “monoclonal
antibody” approach as a life-saving treatment
for Ebola. Last year, it performed a successful
safety test of experimental antibodies designed
to fight MERS.
The difference between using antibodies as
a treatment or a vaccine? Low-dose shots in
the arm every few months might give enough
antibodies to temporarily ward off infection,
while treatment likely would require far higher
doses delivered intravenously, Kyratsous said.
Regeneron is pursuing both, and hopes to begin
first-step safety testing in early summer.
“The antibodies are the same,” he said. “We
would like to have an antibody that is as flexible
in administration as possible.”
Whichever of these approaches, or others in the
pipeline, pan out, NIH’s Corbett said scientists
one day hope to have vaccines on the shelf that
could be used against entire families of viruses.