A team of Singapore scientists has discovered five antibodies that can block COVID-19 infection.
Human trials for the lead antibody, AOD01, will commence in the coming months, pending approval from the Health Sciences Authority, said the Defense Science Organisation (DSO) National Laboratories.
DSO’s scientists have screened “hundreds of thousands” of B cells from the blood samples of recovered COVID-19 patients since March this year.
B cells produce antibodies to target pathogens.
The scientists managed to isolate the first two antibodies for testing within a month of receiving the blood samples from the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and Singapore General Hospital.
Two months later, it identified another three effective antibodies. This was done using a technique that screens B cells simultaneously with live virus, allowing antibodies with effective virus neutralising properties to be quickly identified.
The technique was developed by the DSO in collaboration with the National University of Singapore’s Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Life Sciences Institute over the last five years.
Results showed that the five antibodies “demonstrate neutralisation” against COVID-19, said the DSO.
With the research phase completed, the study is now transiting into the preclinical phase, where the team is preparing the lead antibody for production, said Dr Conrad Chan, principal research scientist and laboratory director (applied molecular technology).
