Covid-19 virus to become resistant to antibody drugs, GeoVax’s GEO-CM04S1 targets the virus in two places and stimulates immunoresponse
Researchers stated that an experimental vaccine produced by GeoVax Labs Inc promoted the formation of antibodies that target two separate sites on the virus in a small pilot study and has progressed to mid-stage clinical trials.
GeoVax’s GEO-CM04S1 vaccine, like other COVID-19 vaccines, stimulates immune responses that target the virus’s spike protein on the surface. It does, however, attacks the virus’s “nucleocapsid,” or body. The vaccine, which employs a modified version of a harmless virus to send instructions to the immune system, was given to 56 volunteers in a research published recently in The Lancet Microbe.
According to the research team from City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California, 94% of the participants generated antibodies against the spike and nucleocapsid protein. T cells, which guard against severe infection and other immune system components also responded effectively.
The vaccine is now being tested in two mid-stage studies. One is putting it to the test in immunocompromised individuals with blood cancer to see if it’s safe and effective. The other aims to see if it can be used as a booster in healthy individuals who have already had Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, or Johnson & Johnson vaccinations. According to the researchers, the investigations will look at the level of antibodies that can neutralize the Omicron variety.
Chinese researchers tried an inhalable antibody medication that targets two locations on the virus in different studies. The medication looked to be quite efficient in mice infected with the corona virus, according to a study published in the journal Cell earlier this year.
After observing similar situations with Delta variant patients, researchers emphasized that Corona virus patients who received antibody therapies against Omicron variation must be closely monitored since the virus may evolve and become resistant to the therapy after it is infused. Eight of the patients shed infectious virus for longer than predicted, and testing revealed that four of the eight contained viral particles with modifications known to impair the drug’s efficacy.
The alterations appeared six to thirteen days after the patients began taking the medicine, according to a study published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The identical alterations were found in four of 45 patients in a previous clinical study of the medicine, according to lead investigator in Australia, from the University of Sydney .
When patients do not respond to sotrovimab therapy as predicted, genetic tests are needed, she says. Rocket further added that these treatment-resistance mutations are rather rare; however, the findings underline the need for further observation and research to ensure that innovative antiviral medicines remain effective and that, if resistance develops, it does not spread into the population.”
