The Ministry of Defense's Israel Institute for Biotechnological Research has announced that it has developed an antibody to the coronavirus and is preparing the patent to then contact pharmaceutical companies for the purpose of commercial scale production.
In a statement, the institute says that the research center ensures that the antibody that was developed attacks and neutralizes the virus in sick people.
"According to the institute's researchers, headed by Professor Shmuel Shapiro, the development phase of the antibody has been completed," the note said.
Israel's Defense Minister, Naftali Benet, visited the institute's laboratory in Nezz Ziona, south of Tel Aviv, where he learned of the investigation saying that the "antibody attacks the virus in a monoclonal way" calling the work "a great achievement" .
“I am proud of the staff at the Institute of Biotechnology for this breakthrough. Jewish creativity and thinking achieved this great result ”, expressed the minister through the same communiqué. The document does not specify whether tests have been carried out on humans.
Senior Israeli defense and security officials have told the state-run Kan station, however, that the discovery is "the first of its kind worldwide."
According to the digital publication Times of Israel, there are about a hundred research teams in the world looking for a vaccine for the SARS-Cov-2 virus that caused the pandemic, with about a dozen currently in the development phase. testing on humans.
Many experts warned in March that the process after developing a vaccine in the laboratory can take at least 18 months.
The Israel Institute for Research and Biotechnology is dedicated, among other fields, to investigating chemical weapons looking for antidotes against new substances.
In March, the Haaretz newspaper reported that the research center had made progress in investigating the vaccine at the time and the Ministry of Defense denied the information in the Israeli publication.
Globally, according to a report by the AFP news agency, the covid-19 pandemic has already claimed more than 250,000 deaths and infected more than 3.5 million people in 195 countries and territories.
