A team of Chinese scientists has isolated several antibodies that it says are “extremely effective” at blocking the ability of the new Coronavirus to enter cells, which eventually could be helpful in treating or preventing COVID-19.
There is currently no proven effective treatment for the disease, which originated in China.
Zhang Linqi at Tsinghua University in Beijing said a drug using antibodies like the ones his team have found could be used more effectively than the current supportive treatments.
Plasma contains antibodies but is restricted by blood type.
Another test was conducted to see if they could actually prevent COVID-19 from entering cells, Zhang Linqi said in an interview at Tsinghua on Monday.
Among the first 20 or so antibodies tested, four were able to block viral entry and of those, two were “exceedingly good” at doing so, he said.
