PARIS: An antibody that can stop the new coronavirus infecting cells in laboratory tests has been identified by researchers in the Netherlands, in what scientists say could help the development of therapies for Covid-19.
The antibody neutralised the new coronavirus, according to the research published in Nature Communications, and the authors said it "offers the potential to prevent and/or treat Covid-19".
It has not yet been tested on animals or in human trials. Researchers from Utrecht University and the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam injected cells of "humanised mice" with purified versions of the spike proteins used by different coronaviruses -- including the ones that cause SARS and MERS -- to infect cells.
This immunisation-like process caused the cells to produce neutralising antibodies, which the researchers purified and tested against the virus that causes Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2), and the one that causes SARS (SARS-CoV).
One of the antibodies stopped both pathogens from infecting cells. Observers commenting on the study cautioned that there was a long way to go before knowing if the newly discovered antibody would work as a treatment.