Tel Aviv: In what could be said as a breakthrough in the treatment of patients infected with novel-Coronavirus, Israel’s Defence Minister revealed that the top Biological Research institute of his country is on the verge of inventing treatment for the deadly virus.
Israel's Defence Minister Naftali Bennett made the claims following his visit to the labs of the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), a secretive unit that works under the Prime Minister’s Office, a report published in RepublicWorld.Com stated.
According to a statement from Bennett’s office, “He was shown the antibody that attacks the virus in a monoclonal way and can neutralize it within the bodies of those ill.”
The antibody reported as having been isolated at the 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 the antibody formula was being patented, after which an international manufacturer would be sought to mass-produce it. About the vaccine developments in other countries, there have been coronavirus treatments developed from antibodies that are polyclonal or derived from two or more cells of different ancestry, the magazine Science Direct reported in its May issue.
The small southern town of Yeruham has plans to open Israel's first vaccine production facility, in partnership with the Israel Institute for Biological Research (IIBR) and one of two prospective international pharmaceutical companies, according to a spokesperson for the Yeruham local council.
With 235 deaths from 16246 Coronavirus positive case in the small Middle Eastern country that stands at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa, it was one of the first countries to close its borders and impose increasingly stringent restrictions on movement to hamper the domestic coronavirus outbreak. As the world grapples with the Coronavirus which originated from China in December last year, countries have been racing against the time to come up with a vaccine that could put an end to the menace of the deadly virus.