March 25, 2020

expert reaction to a preprint (unpublished work) looking at meplazumab, a humanized anti-CD147 antibody, as add-on therapy in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in China

A preprint paper, posted on MedRxiv, reports on meplazumab, a humanized anti-CD147 antibody, as and add-on therapy in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in China.

Prof Ian Jones, Professor of Virology, University of Reading, said:

“The use of the antibody Meplazumab for Covid-19 seems very positive.  It targets both the virus and the damage done by it during infection.  The recovery rate of a range of patients improved significantly when Meplazumab was used.  However, this is not a simple tablet treatment, it requires infusion while in hospital and drugs like this are not usually widely available, at least not in quantity.  But it offers a potential therapy for severe cases which would improve recovery rates and free up beds faster.  It clearly needs to be considered alongside other emerging treatments.”

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.21.20040691v1

All our previous output on this subject can be seen at this weblink:

www.sciencemediacentre.org/tag/covid-19/

Declared interests

None received.