How Regeneron Made a COVID Antibody Drug

How Regeneron Made a COVID Antibody Drug

It takes several weeks after infection or vaccination¹ for the most effective antibodies to form in the human body.

Drugs like the one that scientists at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals² developed are meant to help quickly. They supply strong doses of one or two antibodies that work well.

Drugs like these are being tested to prevent infection in people at high risk of COVID-19 who cannot yet get a vaccine³, like those who live with COVID-19 patients. The drugs are also being tried as a treatment soon after infection to avoid serious illness.

They are some of the most complex medicines. Companies have used cells from different animals, such as monkeys, hamsters, mice, horses, cows and llamas to make them.

The antibody drugs start with one person who has had the coronavirus and recovered. Eli Lilly, for example, worked with AbCellera, a company in Canada that got a strong antibody from an early case in that country.

GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology found one in blood that was frozen for years in a Swiss laboratory. It came from a person who had SARS, another coronavirus that caused a deadly outbreak in 2003.

Regeneron's two-antibody drug is different. One antibody came from a person infected with COVID-19 in Singapore, the other from the company's genetically⁴ modified mice.

Humans make hundreds or thousands of kinds of antibodies after infection. But "most of them are not very good" at blocking the coronavirus, said Christos Kyratsous. He is a microbiologist who helped lead Regeneron's work.

The search began in January when Chinese scientists identified the new coronavirus. Dr. Sumathi Sivapalasingam started seeking blood samples from people who had been infected early in the health crisis. She is a Regeneron scientist who had worked at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Then, her team of researchers got a call from Dr. David Lye of Singapore's National Center for Infectious Disease. Lye asked three of his patients who had recovered from COVID-19 pneumonia⁶ to give blood.

It was risky⁷. Blood cells survive for around two days and the flight to New York takes 18 hours. The samples then would have to get through border control and be taken to Regeneron's laboratory in Tarrytown, New York.

Dr. Lye was worried that a flight delay or any mistake during transport would make the blood useless.

It arrived on March 13, the day COVID-19 was declared a national emergency in the United States.

Other companies were working with mice that were modified to have human-like immune systems. When vaccinated⁸ with a piece of the virus, they do not get sick. Instead, they make almost the same antibodies humans make, Kyratsous said.

It takes just 20 to 30 of these mice to develop a drug. Blood from the mice and patients contains B cells. Each makes a special antibody that is carried on its surface. The goal is to find antibodies that stick to the virus and block it from infecting cells.

Scientists first check the B cells by mixing them with part of the spiky⁹ protein that covers the virus. They look for cells with antibodies that connect. Next, researchers examine the genetic⁵ material of each antibody. The genes¹⁰ are put into a kind of hamster cell widely used in the drug industry because it grows very quickly and produces the chosen antibody.

On Saturday, March 14, those are the results Kristen Pascal went to the lab to get. When the group saw good results, they celebrated¹¹. Those antibodies were just from the mice. Two weeks later, the process was repeated on the human samples from Singapore.

In its research, Regeneron tested more than 3,300 antibodies before choosing two that stuck to the spike¹² protein at different places.

Dan Van Plew's job is to take what he calls "the recipe" from the Tarrytown laboratory. He puts it through his "test kitchen" at Regeneron's production factory in a nearby town. And he decides how to produce large amounts as a drug.

He said production took 45 days. That is "light speed" compared to the usual process that can take three to five months, Van Plew said.

In October, President Donald Trump¹³ received the drug himself. But there is no way to know if it helped. Most patients recover on their own and he received other experimental treatments, too.

The Food and Drug Administration has permitted use of Regeneron and Eli Lilly antibody drugs for moderately ill patients who do not need to be in the hospital. Tests on more severely¹⁴ sick, hospitalized patients were delayed because of concern that the drugs may not help.

Words in This Story

dose –n. the amount of medicine needed to treat a disease

outbreak –n. the fast start and spread of a disease or of armed conflict

modify –v. to change a part of something while not changing other parts

pneumonia –n. a severe lung infection

spiky –adj. having sharp points

recipe –n. a set of instructions to make something (often food)

1 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

2 pharmaceuticals   

n.医药品；药物( pharmaceutical的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the development of new pharmaceuticals 新药的开发
• The companies are pouring trillions of yen into biotechnology research,especially for pharmaceuticals and new seeds. 这些公司将大量资金投入生物工艺学研究，尤其是药品和新种子方面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

5 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

6 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

7 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

8 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

9 spiky   

adj.长而尖的，大钉似的

参考例句：

• Your hairbrush is too spiky for me.你的发刷，我觉得太尖了。
• The spiky handwriting on the airmail envelope from London was obviously hers.发自伦敦的航空信封上的尖长字迹分明是她的。

10 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

11 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

12 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

13 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

14 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。