IRB seeking to develop immunotherapy for coronavirus

The EU is supporting research into medication to treat and prevent coronavirus as part of an emergency action plan. Researchers have managed to submit their projects over recent weeks with the framework of an accelerated process. A total of 136 research groups have applied – 17 of them will receive financial backing. These include a consortium established by the Ticino-based Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB). The IRB maintains close ties with the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI: University of Italian Switzerland)  

The consortium established by the IRB is planning to develop an immunotherapy for the coronavirus, as detailed in a press release. The concept is similar to that seen in chicken pox – once a child is infected, the immune system develops antibodies to defend against repeat illnesses. The agent developed by the researchers is to be based on antibodies extracted from the blood of recovered coronavirus patients.

According to information from the IRB, the research findings could also contribute to the development of vaccines against the coronavirus. While this may not be the purpose of this project, there are other EU-funded projects that are focused on vaccinations.

The EU announced back in January that it would provide a total of 10 million euros from its research and innovation program Horizon 2020 to conduct research into the coronavirus. This amount was then later raised by a further 37.5 million euros.