OT- Potential Game Changer another Covid thread

Submitted by WesternWolverine96 on August 19th, 2020 at 1:56 AM

Well this is good news

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/roche-regeneron-collaborate-significantly-increase-050000652.html

 

REGN-COV2 was designed specifically by Regeneron scientists to block infectivity of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. They evaluated thousands of fully-human antibodies produced by the company's proprietary VelocImmune® mice, which have been genetically-modified to have a human immune system, as well as antibodies identified from humans who have recovered from COVID-19. The two potent, virus-neutralizing antibodies that form REGN-COV2 bind non-competitively to the critical receptor binding domain of the virus's spike protein, which diminishes the ability of mutant viruses to escape treatment and protects against spike variants that have arisen in the human population, as detailed in recent Science publications.

uminks

August 19th, 2020 at 2:39 AM ^

This will be more of treatment and could be fast tracked in the next 30 days. Hopefully this will curve COVID and the B1G can start their season in October!

Mgotri

August 19th, 2020 at 9:09 AM ^

As a rule it is always a good idea to wait for pivotal human trial results. Animal data is largely meaningless to the average person and serves only to allow the company to move forward into human trials. 
Announcing animal data is always to raise money, even at huge companies like Regeneron and Roche. 

 

SanDiegoWolverine

August 19th, 2020 at 3:05 AM ^

It's been expected for months that antibody therapies would be available in fall long before a vaccine. Problem is no one will be able to afford and unless they are on their death bed. 

A true game changer would be something available and affordable as a prophylactic to front line and high risk people. Otherwise, not a game changer.

FreddieMercuryHayes

August 19th, 2020 at 7:56 AM ^

To go along with this, right now there's probably a very small window to make a boatload of money before mass vaccination becomes the standard and infections rate go down (hopefully).  It's why there's not many companies investigating therapy for treatments once infected or exposed, and why the ones that are approved will cost half your retirement savings.

FauxMo

August 19th, 2020 at 7:45 AM ^

Is anyone else less shocked about the potential COVID treatment than they are by the fact that this company MADE MICE WITH HUMAN IMMUNE SYSTEMS!?!?!?

Perkis-Size Me

August 19th, 2020 at 8:10 AM ^

That’s great. Even if it works, who’s going to be able to receive this in the short term aside from the stupid wealthy and the guy who is inches away from death?

Even if it works, it’s going to be a long time before it’s made readily available to the masses.

quigley.blue

August 19th, 2020 at 8:52 AM ^

Well the good news is that Regeneron is definitely a company who has a track record that shows that they have the greater good in mind, and will do whatever it takes to make sure their pandemic related product is ethically and judiciously priced, after being 80% funded by the government, so that the maximum number of people can have access to it.  

AresIII

August 19th, 2020 at 10:40 AM ^

If this is legitimate and it stops the binding process, then haven't they just found the cure for the common cold too?  If I remember correctly, the common trait in coronavirus (COVID and the common cold among them) is the way they attach to the human cells.  If they can stop the binding process for one, then shouldn't it work for the other as well?

Don

August 19th, 2020 at 10:57 AM ^

A game-changer of a different sort:

"Our understanding of COVID-19 has accreted around the idea that it kills a few and is “mild” for the rest. That caricature was sketched before the new coronavirus even had a name; instead of shifting in the light of fresh data, it calcified. It affected the questions scientists sought to ask, the stories journalists sought to tell, and the patients doctors sought to treat. It excluded long-haulers from help and answers.

Nichols’s initial symptoms were so unlike the official description of COVID-19 that her first doctor told her she had acid reflux and refused to get her tested. “Even if you did have COVID-19, you’re 32, you’re healthy, and you’re not going to die,” she remembers him saying. (She has since tested positive.)"

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/08/long-haulers-covid-19-recognition-support-groups-symptoms/615382/

Njia

August 19th, 2020 at 11:16 AM ^

You've brought to light here exactly the Covid-19 "conventional wisdom" that has driven me insane since the beginning of this pandemic; i.e., "mild" cases come and go unremarkably. While that can be true, it's also the case that so-called "asymptomatic" and "mild" cases can take many weeks to clear, and can ravage the body.

I have kept reminding friends and relatives who tell me about "asymptomatic" cases that cardiovascular disease is also frequently symptom-free ... Right up until the patient has a widow-maker heart attack and drops dead.

bronxblue

August 19th, 2020 at 12:50 PM ^

This is exciting obviously but I swear people don't understand just how many drugs look great (especially in press releases, which is what this link is) in initial trials but fail once they go into larger-scale testing.  I worked at a major research university for a couple of years and saw numerous times where promising drugs failed when their scope expanded.  Absolutely you hope one of these hits and becomes a viable treatment but it isn't going to necessarily happen in the next month or two, and there's a good chance that this treatment comes with unexpected side-effects that will show up during these trials.

CFraser

August 19th, 2020 at 3:37 PM ^

I didn’t know they had mice engineered like that. Cool. I guess human plasma is the alternative source for IgX but carries the risk of being infectious so the mice thing is cool; as long as there’s no xenograft rejection issues. 

BrewCityBlue

August 20th, 2020 at 6:35 PM ^

Inovio has the vaccine, INO4800. Unfortunately it will take a bit of time due to having to prove their new industry disrupting technology without help from lobbyists against big pharma's will. Fortunately their stock is cheap as hell for another couple weeks I would guess. Fauci, Moderna, etc such a crock of cronyism shit. Hope Regeneron has something here, we will need numerous solutions.