Coronavirus antibody treatment shows promising results

Phase 1 clinical trials on a homegrown neutralizing antibody treatment for the novel coronavirus have completed in Shanghai.

The new drug, JS016, was given to 40 healthy volunteers through venous injection. The trials are the first of their kind to test neutralizing antibody treatment against the coronavirus in uninfected people.

The trials showed JS016 has good safety and tolerability for human use.

JS016 was co-developed by Shanghai Junshi Biosciences and the Institute of Microbiology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Clinical trials began at the city’s Huashan Hospital on June 7, led by the hospital’s Zhang Jing and Zhang Wenhong, who is also leader of the expert team for coronavirus treatment in Shanghai.

All 40 volunteers received the drug by July 7. To date, side effects related to doses have not been observed.

Junshi said the company plans to start clinical trials on affected people as soon as possible.

JS016 is expected to offer a new approach to treating affected people and protecting healthy people with high infection risks, including the elderly and medical workers in ICUs, from becoming infected, according to the company.

Previous tests on monkeys showed JS016 can block the coronavirus from entering cells, and decrease the virus in the lungs of affected monkeys.

The results were published in the leading scientific journal Nature in May.