I would say anticovid antibody drug discovery and manufacture coalesce some of the most important and revolutionary developments in the pharmaceutical sciences over the last decades, as well as some real novelties. Aka BIOTECHNOLOGY
-
Show this thread
-
Antibodies are versatile in that they can be given both as a treatment and as form of temporary immunization lasting maybe weeks to people (health care workers at risk) who we want to protect first.pic.twitter.com/gc7qu27lfN
1 reply 1 retweet 3 likesShow this thread -
One reason the antibody idea is prized is because antibodies worked like a charm against Ebola. Espeically if given early, death rate on antibodies was 10% stedda 65%! Also, Ebola trial carried out in under a year. in a war zone, so that is a timeframe, approach, to emulate nowpic.twitter.com/HWJeXhjlQy
1 reply 2 retweets 4 likesShow this thread -
But there would be a HUGE manufacturing question. Antibodies are made in tanks of living cells. Making enough antibody for everyone would be hard! The capacity to do that doesnt even exist. So that is where the manhattan project stuff comes in, in my mind. As we wrote:pic.twitter.com/hkF6kGf3WS
4 replies 8 retweets 14 likesShow this thread -
The point I attempted to make in our article, and which the secret group also seems to believe according to the WSJ, is that manufacture of anti-covid antibodies may be the best short/medium term bet on drugs custom made for this virus. /END
2 replies 4 retweets 8 likesShow this thread -
PS-- the first tweet in this thread quotes the WSJ's reference to "virus cells". of course viruses are not cells. They are more like particles with genetic info inside.
1 reply 0 retweets 2 likesShow this thread -
PPS --- The full report from the secret (not really though) group is here. https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/Scientists_to_Stop_COVID19_2020_04_23_FINAL.pdf … logical, all-in-one place summary of covid countermeasures --find some drugs --everyone wear masks --lots of testing! (suggest people spit in barcoded tubes multiple X per week)
3 replies 1 retweet 1 likeShow this thread -
Replying to @antonioregalado
Heard that total world capacity is probably around 400 tonnes per year now, and 10% of that, if you could commandeer it, is ~40 million 1-gram doses. Seems achievable? Not sure there is time to build many new factories. But probably <<10% is idle right now. Hmm...
2 replies 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @AdamMarblestone @antonioregalado
Also have to watch out for antibody dependent enhancement (ADE), maybe.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @AdamMarblestone
talked to a guy at Genscript who raised ADE and lots of other issues. like maybe the need for a cocktail of antibodies , hitting at different spots, which would again up the manufacturing. if your TR35 trophy came with a sub to TR you could read all about it. :)
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
Great article. On the plus side, for some elderly people, even if they don’t respond strongly to a vaccine, antibodies could still work.
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.