The proliferating Coronavirus death across the United States recorded 1,561 casualties in the past 24 hours, registering a total of 93,406 fatalities according to the real-time tally by Johns Hopkins University.
The worst-hit country has the register ringing continuously with the total cases last confirmed to be 1,550,959, as reported by the Baltimore-based school
But there is a sign of hope that can contain the rise in virus infection as Sorrento Therapeutics, announces its anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody, STI-1499 that has exhibited 100% inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection at a very low antibody concentration experiment.
Sorrento is laser-focused to generate an antibody mixture product that would be a “protective shield" against SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus infection and would be equally effective even if virus mutations render a single antibody therapy less effective over time.
Apparently, a dozen of these antibodies has thus far fared well showing the ability to block the S1 protein's interaction with human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Those blocking antibodies were further subjected to more refined testing for their ability to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 virus infection in an in vitro SARS-CoV-2 virus infection model pursuant to a preclinical testing agreement for COVID-19 therapeutic candidates.
One among the antibodies stood out for its ability to completely block SARS-CoV-2 infection of healthy cells during the experiments. STI-1499 can completely defuse the virus infectivity at a mare antibody dose. Preliminary biochemical and biophysical analyses also inferred that STI-1499 is a potentially potent antibody drug candidate.
This STI-1499 is determined to be the first antibody in the antibody cocktail (COVI-SHIELD™) it is developing. The antibody is assumed to be developed as a stand-alone therapy, (COVI-GUARD™) owing to the high potency it has exhibited in experiments to date. Sorrento plans to request an accelerated review from regulators to determine the best conduit to make any potential treatment available sooner. The company also seeks potential government support and pharmaceutical partners to further scale up STI-1499 manufacturing capacity aiming to potentially provide tens of millions of doses in less time to meet the vast projected demand.