- Title: Llama-based COVID-19 treatment enters trials in Belgium
- Date: 24th August 2021
- Summary: GENK, BELGIUM (AUGUST 23, 2021) (REUTERS) LLAMA 'WINTER', WHOSE BLOOD WAS USED BY RESEARCHERS FOR ITS ANTIBODIES, EATING GRASS IN ENCLOSURE LLAMA OWNER VARIOUS OF LLAMA EATING GHENT, BELGIUM (AUGUST 23, 2021) (REUTERS) SIGNS FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF GHENT AND THE FLEMISH INSTITUTE OF BIOTECHNOLOGY EXTERIOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GHENT RESEARCHER ARRIVING IN LABORATORY RESEARCHER WEARING FACE MASK RESEARCHERS AT WORK RESEARCHER HANDLING REACTION TUBE VARIOUS OF RESEARCHER LOOKING AT SAMPLE VARIOUS OF UNIVERSITY OF GHENT RESEARCHERS XAVIER SAELENS, NICO CALLEWAERT AND BERT SCHEPENS SPEAKING WITH EXEVIR BIO CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, DOMINIQUE TERSAGO (SOUNDBITE) (English) BIOTECHNOLOGY PROFESSOR AT GHENT UNIVERSITY, NICO CALLEWAERT, SAYING: "Llamas have a particular second kind of antibodies compared to humans, for example. They are called heavy chain-only antibodies (HCAbs) so they are much more simple than the ones that we have. Because of that, we can easily take a little snippet of that protein and glue it to other proteins. It's a bit like 'Lego' protein that you can do with them much more easily than with other antibodies. So that's why we are using them. It has been a discovery about 30 years ago at the (Free) University of Brussels (VUB), at a department now part of our (Flemish) institute (for Biotechnology (VIB). So we have a long tradition working with this kind of antibodies. Why llamas have such kind of antibodies? It's an open question, I think." VARIOUS OF SAELENS AND SCHEPENS INSPECTING PLAQUE (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIVERSITY OF GHENT'S CENTRE FOR MEDICAL BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCHER, XAVIER SAELENS, SAYING ABOUT THE LLAMAS' ANTIBODIES: "They are much smaller than the ones we find in humans, for example. They have a number of advantages because of that, which implies for example they can be produced in a simple system so it's easy to produce them in bacteria, in yeast, in simple expression systems, which is much more difficult for conventional antibodies. In addition, they are very stable, which means you can put them at room temperature without any issues. On top of that, their small size, smaller than conventional antibodies, allows them to reach targets, parts of the virus, which is difficult to access with conventional antibodies so the size really matters there." UNIVERSITY OF GHENT LABORATORY VARIOUS OF RESEARCHERS LOOKING AT ANTIBODIES IN TRAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIVERSITY OF GHENT'S CENTRE FOR MEDICAL BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCHER, XAVIER SAELENS, SAYING ABOUT THE NEWLY STARTED CLINICAL TRIALS: "The first goal is to see whether it's working in patients, whether it does the job like we see it doing it on mice and hamsters. So there we can clearly see and we (get) a good idea about the dose that would be required or might be required in human patients. But we need to prove that what we see in the lab - in experimental conditions - works in humans so that we can help patients coming to the hospital." VARIOUS OF RESEARCHER AT WORK TUBES EXEVIR BIO CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, DOMINIQUE TERSAGO, SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) EXEVIR BIO CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, DOMINIQUE TERSAGO, SAYING, SAYING: "The studies we are doing at the moment are focusing on patients who are in hospital because, there, clearly they is a higher medical need. These are patients that are ill and we want to help them recover more quickly and (be) discharged from hospital. We also know that, despite the vaccination campaigns, people with immune systems that are suppressed, either by disease or by other treatments, their immune system will probably not be able to mount a strong enough immune response against the virus and they potentially will also become ill. So in subsequent clinical studies, we want to evaluate the treatment efficacy in those populations, in those specific patient groups but in an earlier stage." GENK, BELGIUM (AUGUST 23, 2021) (REUTERS) WINTER WITH OTHER LLAMAS WINTER WALKING OTHER LLAMA LLAMA GRAZING GHENT, BELGIUM (AUGUST 23, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) EXEVIR BIO CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, DOMINIQUE TERSAGO, SAYING, SAYING: "We generated data in collaboration with the Rega Institute (for Medical Research) also here in Belgium, which shows that we have very strong neutralization activities against the (COVID-19) Delta variant and also the other variants of concern at the moment. And we expect that efficacy to also then translate into the efficacy we anticipate will be showing in the clinical trials." GENK, BELGIUM (AUGUST 23, 2021) (REUTERS) WINTER SMELLING TREE WINTER LICKING TREE LLAMAS AND EMU IN ENCLOSURE WINTER EATING FROM TROUGH CARETAKERS FEEDING LLAMAS WINTER SPITTING
- Embargoed: 7th September 2021 10:31
- Keywords: Belgium COVID-19 Coronavirus antibody biomedical camelid clinical trial llama pharmaceutical researcher science scientist treatment trial
- Location: GENK AND GHENT, BELGIUM
- City: GENK AND GHENT, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: Europe,Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001ERN1L53
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A Belgian biomedical start-up has launched clinical trials to determine whether antibodies derived from a llama could play a part in the fight against COVID-19.
Llamas and other members of the camel family are unique among mammals in producing smaller versions of conventional antibodies that can be combined to serve different purposes at a low cost.
"It's a bit like 'Lego' protein that you can (combine) much more easily than with other antibodies" said researcher Nico Callewaert, in reference to the Danish construction game.
His colleague Xavier Saelens, also working for Belgium's VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology, added the small size of the antibodies made them more stable, easier to reproduce and more versatile.
The unique properties of members of the camel family were discovered almost by chance by the VUB University in Brussels some 30 years ago.
The center's spin-off ExeVir began a trial last week in healthy volunteers, having already starting giving it to hospitalised patients.
"The first goal is to see whether it's working in patients, whether it does the job like we see it when doing it on mice and hamsters," Saelens told Reuters.
ExeVir's Chief Medical Officer Dominique Tersago said treatments derived from tiny antibodies of a Belgium-based llama called Winter could protect those whose immune systems are compromised or shorten hospital stays for those infected.
She added data was encouraging on its ability to counter more infectious variants, given the antibody binds to a very specific part of the virus's spike.
ExeVir would not be the first user of such small "nanobodies". France's Sanofi paid 3.9 billion euros to buy Ghent-based medical company Ablynx in 2018, while VIB spin-off Biotalys, which offers biological alternatives to chemical pesticides, listed on the stock exchange in June.
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