Israel claims breakthrough in Covid treatment; says its antibody can neutralise the virus

Amid menace of Coronavirus pandemic and with no specific antidote to it so far, Israel's Defence Minister Naftali Bennett has claimed that his country has me a significant breakthrough towards treatment for dely virus.  

"monoclonal neutralising antibody" developed at Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) "can neutralise it [ disease-causing coronavirus] inside carriers' bodies," Israel's defence minister said in a statement.

Bennett visited labs of Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), a secretive unit that works under Prime Minister’s Office, in Ness Ziona and was shown “antibody that attacks virus in a monoclonal way and can neutralize it within bodies of those ill,” according to statement from his office.

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antibody reported as having been isolated at IIBR is monoclonal, meaning it was derived from a single recovered cell, and is thus potentially of more potent value in yielding a treatment.

According to International media reports, IIBR Director Shmuel Shapira says that antibody formula was being patented, after which an international manufacturer would be sought to mass-produce it. About vaccine developments in or countries, re have been coronavirus treatments developed from antibodies that are polyclonal or derived from two or more cells of different ancestry, magazine Science Direct reported in its May issue.

small sourn town of Yeruham has plans to open Israel's first vaccine production facility, in partnership with Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) and one of two prospective international pharmaceutical companies, according to a spokesperson for Yeruham local council.

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Israel was one of first countries to close its borders and impose increasingly stringent restrictions on movement to hamper domestic coronavirus outbreak. It has reported 16,246 cases and 235 deaths from illness. As world grapples with Coronavirus which originated from China in December last year, countries have been racing against time to come up with a vaccine.

Gile Science's Remdivisir is also touted to be a possible cure for COVID-19. However, re is minimal data over it and better trials are needed as re are only a handful of trials done as of now, as per accounts from US where it has been permitted by CDC. US government has granted permission to its hospitals to use Remdevisir to cure patients suffering from COVID-19.