JS016, a treatment for Covid-19 has been approved for emergency use by 15 countries, with the combination of another neutralizing antibody, according to information relayed by the CCTV News channel on November 19.
Protected by the Chinese Independent Intellectual Property Rights Law, this treatment was co-developed by Junshi Biosciences and the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
JS016 is a recombinant, monoclonal neutralizing antibody against Covid-19. This treatment belongs to the class of medicines called monoclonal antibodies which are widely used to treat cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and many other conditions.
According to researcher Daniel Skovronsky, this type of therapy could be more useful than a vaccine in widespread use as a treatment for Covid-19 if they prove to be effective. He explained to news agency, Reuters, that they could also be used as a preventive measure against the disease.
In June 2020, the first subject at Huashan Hospital at Fudan University in Shanghai received an injection of JS016. This would be the world’s first clinical trial for the antibody in a healthy human participant after testing in non-human primates ends.
“We use the single-cell sequencing method to isolate B cells that generate neutralizing antibodies from cured patients, then we clone the antibody-bound gene sequences from B cells for the production of antibodies in vitro.”, explained Yan Jinghua, a researcher at the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The latter indicated that the Ministry of Science and Technology sent 3,000 doses of the drug in two batches for emergency use in the country in early 2021, and another 500,000 doses have been allocated overseas for emergency treatment.
Completed phase 2 clinical trials show that JS016 can lower the viral titer in patients and reduce the risk of becoming a severe case. Currently, the phase 3 clinical trials of JS016 are being actively promoted nationwide.
Its safety and effectiveness in the treatment of patients with Covid-19 have been recognized, offering a new approach to the prevention and control of the coronavirus worldwide.
