World first in Alken: research center tests improved antibody treatment against omikron variant
Anima Research Center in Alken will soon collaborate on a new study of an improved antibody treatment against the coronavirus. This extra shot, on top of the vaccine, should sufficiently protect the most vulnerable patients against the omikron variant of the covid virus: a world first.
Anima Research Center will test the new antibody treatment on behalf of pharma company AstraZeneca. The study should yield initial results by the fall. Then our country will start up, with the fifth vaccination campaign against the coronavirus.
Anima Research Center in Alken will test new treatment in fight against Omikron variant of coronavirus
The Anima Research Center in Alken will test a new antibody treatment. That extra jab should protect the most vulnerable part of the population against the Omikron variant of the coronavirus. This is what TV Limburg reports and the news has been confirmed to our editors.
Patients with weakened immune systems will not need a fifth vaccination in the fall to protect against the Omikron variant of the coronavirus. That is why pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is working on a new antibody treatment. The Anima Research Center in Alken is collaborating on that research.
"The antibody treatment now given to vulnerable patients does not work against the Omikron variant. Hence, better and newer antibodies must be designed," says lead researcher Erik Buntinx of the Anima Research Center.
"Such an antibody treatment is necessary for all people with an impaired immune or immune system. Recent research at the UZ Leuven shows that a vaccination is certainly useful, but not sufficient for these people. Just think of cancer patients, patients with immune disorders such as Crohn's patients or people who have to take immunosuppressive drugs as part of a transplant, for example. Surely it concerns about five percent of the population, because this study also includes young people," Buntinx lists.
A total of 700 candidates from different countries will participate in the study. The study will start in the second half of July and run throughout the summer. The Anima Research Center hopes to find between 40 and 100 people.
Source https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2023/06/28/anima-research-center/