Beyond Vaccines: Researchers Discover a New Antibody Treatment for COVID-19
Update 13.12.2022
This new curative demonstrated a substantial reduction in viral load and an alleviation of clinical symptoms
Two
years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for effective therapeutics remains
as urgent as ever. Medical researchers from South Korea recently
identified a human monoclonal antibody named CT-P59, isolated from the blood
cells of a recovering COVID-19 patient, can potently neutralize coronavirus strains such as variants of concern (VoCs) such as
alpha, beta, gamma, and delta, thereby, becoming an
efficient therapeutic antibody for COVID-19. This treatment, approved by the European
Commission and marketed as Regkirona (regdanvimab
as for international non-proprietary name (INN)),
has saved numerous lives in South Korea.
As
the pandemic fear still grips the world, researchers develop a new and
effective therapeutic for COVID-19.
Image
courtesy: Photo by Viki Mohamad on Unsplash
It is
now over two years since the world has been plunged into unchartered
territories with the COVID-19 pandemic. With new variants on the horizon,
governments and medical authorities are constantly on the lookout for new
resources to help tackle the SARS-CoV-2 virus. 2021 saw great success in the
development and roll out of vaccines, with almost half the population having
received at least partial vaccination as the year closed. But what of people
who are infected?
Research
into treatment options for COVID-19 has also been steadily progressing. A team
of researchers, led by Dr Cheolmin Kim of a global biopharmaceutical company , CELLTRION,
has now developed a novel monoclonal antibody (mAb), CT-P59, to act as a
therapeutic or preventative intervention for COVID-19. Their findings were published in Nature
Communications.
To
understand the effectiveness of CT-P59, one must first understand the structure
of the virus itself. Transmembrane fusion proteins called spike proteins present
on SARS-CoV-2 allows the virus to penetrate host cells and cause infection by
mediation of both receptor binding and fusion of the viral and host membranes.
A short immunogenic fragment called the receptor-binding domain (RBD) situated
on the spike helps the virus bind to the receptor, angiotensin converting
enzyme 2, present in human cells.
The
researchers created an antibody library constructed from peripheral blood
mononuclear cells of a recovering patient. Screening this library for human
mAbs targeting the RBD of the viral spike protein with neutralization efficacy
against SARS-CoV-2 virus pointed them towards CT-P59.
They then
conducted virus challenge studies on animal models, which revealed that CT-P59 binds
to the RBD of the spike protein before the virus itself can. This slows down
the overall viral binding and eliminates the infection symptoms. They also found
that CT-P59 significantly inhibited the viral replication of viruses clinically
isolated. It also decreased the amount of virus in the lungs and improved
clinical symptoms. This success has led the team to brand this novel mAb
treatment option as ‘Regkirona’.
This treatment
has subsequently been approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in South
Korea and the European Commission. Dr Kim says, “Regdanvimab
is one of the first antibody therapeutics against COVID-19 which has obtained
approval in Europe. Through this approval, CELLTRION proves its own
capabilities to contribute to global healthcare by developing a new
antibody-drug beyond antibody biosimilar.”
From
the research stage to the implementation, regdanvimab has been a lesson in
cooperation. This endeavor brought together the company, governments, and
regulators, making rapid development and approval possible. “If the
development goes well, and further cooperation is assured,” suggests Dr
Kim, “regdanvimab can be employed immediately to fight the pandemic, allowing
great strides towards protecting public health.”
Employing
regdanvimab can lead to the reduction of morbidity to severe diseases caused by
SARS-CoV-2 infection, which will suppress the burden on the medical system and prevent
the paralysis of the national system. In practice, regdanvimab has already been
administered to more than 30,000 patients in South Korea and is fulfilling its
role by saving numerous lives.
This
study was supported by a Korea National Institute of Health fund
(2020-ER5311-00,2020-ER5323-00, 2019-NI-077-01, 2019-NG-044-01).
Reference
Authors
Title of original paper
Journal |
Cheolmin Kim, Dong-Kyun Ryu, Jihun Lee ,
Young-Il Kim, Ji-Min Seo, Yeon-Gil Kim, Jae-Hee Jeong, Minsoo Kim, Jong-In
Kim, Pankyeom Kim, Jin Soo Bae , Eun Yeong Shim, Min Seob Lee , Man Su Kim,
Hanmi Noh, Geun-Soo Park, Jae Sang Park, Dain Son, Yongjin An, Jeong No Lee,
Ki-Sung Kwon, Joo-Yeon Lee, Hansaem Lee, Jeong-Sun Yang, Kyung-Chang Kim,Sung
Soon Kim, Hye-Min Woo, Jun-Won Kim, Man-Seong Park, Kwang-Min Yu, Se-Mi Kim,
Eun-Ha Kim, Su-Jin Park,, Seong Tae Jeong, Chi Ho Yu, Youngjo Song, Se Hun
Gu, Hanseul Oh, Bon-Sang Koo, Jung Joo Hong, Choong-Min Ryu, Wan Beom Park,
Myoung-don Oh, Young Ki Choi & Soo-Young Lee
A therapeutic neutralizing antibody
targeting receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein
Nature
Communications |
DOI
Affiliations |
10.1038/s41467-020-20602-5
Biotechnology Research Institute, Celltrion
Inc, Incheon 22014, Republic of Korea. College of Medicine and Medical
Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Republic of
Korea. Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, Pohang University of Science and
Technology, Pohang, Kyungbuk 790-784, Korea. Center for Infectious Diseases
Research, Korea National Institute of Health, Korea Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, Cheongju, Republic of Korea. Department of
Microbiology and Institute for Viral Diseases, College of Medicine, Korea
University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. The 4th R&D Institute, Agency for
Defense Development, Yuseong, P.O.Box 35, Daejeon 34186, Republic of
Korea. National Primate Research
Centre, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Cheongju,
Republic of Korea. Infectious Disease
Research Centre, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology,
Daejeon, Republic of Korea. Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National
University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Division of Applied
Life Science and Research Institute of Life Sciences, Gyeongsang National
University. |
About National Institute of
Health in Korea
The Korea National
Institute of Health (KNIH), one of the major operating components of the
Ministry of Health and Welfare, leads the nation’s medical research. Over the
past seven decades, the KNIH has made unwavering efforts to enhance the
public’s health and innovate biomedical research. The KNIH seeks to eradicate
diseases and make people healthier. The KNIH establishes a scientific basis and
evidence underlying health policy as well as provides national research
infrastructures. We also promote public health research. To this end, we make
efforts to enrich a health research environment by granting funds to research
projects and keeping our resources, data, and facilities more open and
accessible to researchers.
Website: http://www.nih.go.kr/eng/
About Dr. Cheolmin Kim
Cheolmin Kim leads the antibody discovery team at CELLTRION, a leading biopharmaceutical
company in South Korea. He is in charge of discovering antibodies that can be a
new pipeline of the company. He has been working to develop several therapeutic
antibodies against infectious diseases such as rabies, Middle East Respiratory
Syndrome (MERS), COVID-19. His team is also developing anti-cancer therapeutic
antibodies for new pipelines and trying to establish and optimize antibody
screening platform for better performance. He received a PhD in pharmaceutical
biotechnology from Korea University in 2010.