Health security

The race to find a covid-19 drug in the blood of survivors

The blood sample arrived in Vancouver by courier on February 25. It wasn’t much to look at, but to the scientists at the 117-person biotechnology company AbCellera, it was precious. The blood had been drawn from an male survivor of covid-19 in the US. The company was told it was the very first blood sample made available by American authorities. The survivor’s blood was rich in immune cells oozing prong-shaped antibodies capable of seizing the new coronavirus and blocking it from infecting a cell. These molecules were the man’s own immune response to covid-19 and would likely protect him from getting infected again.

The company’s scientists quickly prepared the blood for analysis on a microfluidic chip where individual immune cells can be isolated and their antibodies studied. Within three days, AbCellara CEO Carl Hansen says, the company had inspected 5 million cells and found 500 different excreted antibodies that stuck to the “spike” protein of the virus, potentially blocking it. Any one of these antibodies could be a cure for others infected.