Grifols tests new drug that would provide immediate immunity against covid

Treatment may be given subcutaneously in health centres

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Un pacient recuperat de covid-19 se sotmet a una extracció de plasma convalescent a l'hospital Vall d'Hebron per a l'estudi de Grífols.

BarcelonaGrifols will begin a clinical trial in February with a new drug that would provide immediate immunity against covid. According to a statement from the Catalan multinational, the treatment could be administered subcutaneously in health centres after the patient tests positive for covid. Unlike the other clinical trial Grifols launched in October 2020, this drug -very similar- could be administered subcutaneously and therefore would not require the patient to be hospitalised.

The treatment is based on an immunoglobulin and contains antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 which have been obtained from plasma donors who have overcome the disease. In addition, as noted in the release, the drug may be especially useful as an adjunct during the early stages of the vaccine. In addition, it may protect older people and healthcare workers, as well as immunodeficient patients for whom vaccination is not recommended.

The clinical trial, which will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the plasma drug, will have as its principal investigators Dr Oriol Mitjà and Dr Bonaventura Clotet, from the Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol in Badalona. Grifols says that some 800 asymptomatic but covid-positive people will participate in the clinical trial, and expects to obtain the first results in the spring.

Grifols's immunoglobulin, Gamunex-C, in its intravenous, intramuscular or subcutaneous form of administration has already demonstrated safety and efficacy in the prevention of other infectious diseases and has in fact been used for the last fifteen years.

Ongoing trial

Grifols's other clinical trial, which is based on a drug similar to the one to be tested this February, is aimed at hospitalised and seriously ill patients and has to be administered intravenously. The multinational blood products company has started the trial with other companies and various US agencies and has reported that the results will be known during the first half of 2021.

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