U.S. specialists confirm a successful treatment against covid-19 made in Costa Rica

The treatment based on immunoglobulins extracted from the plasma process produced in horses resulted in the first batch of 1,000 vial units.
/ University of Costa Rica courtesy photo.

Published Wednesday, July 29, 2020

U.S. specialists confirm a successful
treatment against covid-19
made in Costa Rica

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Specialists from George Mason University, in Virginia, in the United States, confirmed that the treatment developed by Costa Rican scientists of the Clodomiro Picado Research Institute at the University of Costa Rica, is capable of inhibiting the infectivity of the SARS-Cov2 coronavirus, which produces the covid-19.

Since last week, Costa Rican scientists sent samples of the treatment to George Mason to obtain an alternative result of the effectiveness of the treatment against covid-19 in cells.

George Mason has one of the highest biosafety laboratories in the U.S. for testing live viruses in an environment with all the conditions of isolation and biosecurity. This allowed demonstrating that this plasma neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 and that it is 100 times more powerful than convalescent plasma obtained from humans, said the University in its statement.

"The results clearly demonstrate that the horses produced a large number of antibodies that block the entry of the virus into human cells," said Alberto Alape Girón, Ph.D., ICP-UCR researcher, microbiologist and clinical chemist. "This indicates that the drug can be very efficient and that the amount that will be required to treat patients would be relatively low."

According to Carlos Araya, Director of the University, the treatment developed at the institute is applied to people infected with covid-19 preventing them from getting worse.

Given the successful results in the analyzes, both in Costa Rica and in the United States, the human portion of the testing is meant to test its effectiveness.

The expectation is that the results match those expected by scientists. If successful, specialists hope to treat all hospitalized and infected patients sick with the virus in the country.

According to Román Macaya, president of Social Security, this is the first time in history that a clinical study of a product produced in Costa Rica will be done. The treatment "is going to help us lower the viral load so that (the patients) come out faster (from the hospital)."

As A.M. Costa Rica has been reporting, the first two lots of treatment against covid-19 have been successfully packaged and will be applied to most gravely ill patients with covid-19.

According to the institute, the treatment based on immunoglobulins extracted from the plasma process produced in horses resulted in the first batch of 1,000 vial units. Each unit contains antibodies against two different combinations of SARS-CoV-2 proteins.

"After several months of investigation, we have finally managed to package the equine immunoglobulin formulation," said Guillermo León-Montero, coordinator of the institute's Industrial Division. "The process was developed as it was scheduled.”

Costa Rican scientists started the quality control phase of the treatment. "The product is undergoing a series of rigorous analysis including sterility testing," the institute said in its statement.

Quality control is to ensure that the serum is safe for patients before sending it to Social Security. These tests are being carried out in the Pharmaceutical Analysis and Advisory Laboratory of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University.

According to the institute, for more than 15 years, the laboratory has investigated and reported to the Ministry of Health about medications in the country that meet all the criteria of quality, safety and efficacy.

"This quality test seeks to demonstrate the safety of the product in terms of verifying the absence of aerobic bacteria, fungi and yeasts. It is very important because, if a product with some contamination is applied to the patient, it can cause sepsis and danger," said Jeimy Blanco-Barrantes, Ph.D., coordinator of the Laboratory.

The final and current stage of the treatment is applying the treatment to patients. This will help determine if the formulations made are effective.

“The formulations have high concentrations of antibodies to viral proteins," León-Montero said. "In fact, it (the treatment) has significantly higher concentrations than the plasma obtained from recovered patients. However, only the clinical study will tell if the formulations are effective.”

The treatment lots are expected to be delivered to Social Security in a couple of weeks.

Scientists are racing against the time to find a cure for covid-19 while Costa Rican authorities report an increase in newly infected cases as well as deaths due to the virus.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the ministry provided the following statistics of the status of the virus in the country:

• 503 new covid-19 cases, bringing the total to 12,299 active cases. The ages of patients infected range from one three-month-old baby to one 100-year-old person.

• 4,561 foreign-born people have been infected of the 16,344 cases since March, approximately 28% of the total cases.

• 323 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 270 patients are in recovery rooms and 53 are in Intensive Care Units, ICU, with delicate health conditions. Most of the infected patients are quarantined in their homes.

• 3,920 coronavirus patients have fully recovered, which is a 24% recovery rate.

• 55,156 people have been ruled out.

• 82,855 medical covid-19 tests have been made.

• 125 deaths of patients infected with covid-19 since March. Which is almost a 0.8% death rate. Of these 47 were women and 78 men.

• Of the total of deaths, 27 foreign-born people, and 98 Costa Ricans.

Readers can reach the updated number of total patients in each district at the National Distance Education University on its Covid-19 Map.

As of Tuesday night, the pandemic has killed 659,374 patients worldwide, according to recent statistics reported by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

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Could this covid-19 antibodies treatment be the cure to the entire Costa Rican population and prevent the spreading of the virus? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com