Health & Beauty

The delta strain is ferocious!

At present, the most concerned about the world is undoubtedly the delta mutant strain. Since its discovery in India at the end of 2020, this strain has quickly swept the world and has become the most prevalent strain at present. Recently, confirmed cases have appeared in many places across the country, and the new crown virus has infected more than 200 million people worldwide.

The good news is:

On August 4, Sinopharm China Biotech issued a document stating that recently, the research team of Sinopharm China Biotech Yang Xiaoming's team recently discovered an effective monoclonal antibody against delta variants, with a neutralizing activity IC50 of up to 5ng/ml. This means that the monoclonal antibody is effective against Delta and other new crown variants, and the treatment of new crown pneumonia is expected to usher in a special medicine!

The other good news is:

Kangtai Biotech stated that it has made important progress in its research and development project for variants of the new coronavirus. It has successfully isolated multiple "Delta" variants of monoclonal strains, and will follow-up in strict accordance with the quality requirements of human vaccines for strain evaluation and screening of vaccines. The use of virus seeds lays a good foundation for the final realization of large-scale industrialization of vaccines.

In the early morning of the 5th, the topic #深圳康泰生物 successfully separated delta mutant strain# rushed to the top of the hot search on Weibo.

01

New crown treatment is expected to usher in a special medicine!

Related company stock prices soar

According to an article by China Biotech, recently, the research team of Yang Xiaoming of Sinopharm Group China Biosciences has recently discovered a monoclonal antibody that is effective against delta mutant strains, with a neutralizing activity IC50 of up to 5ng/ml.

The study used phage display technology to use peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 8 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection and rehabilitation as genetic materials to establish an immune library, and successfully screened out multiple strains with high neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2 Monoclonal antibodies. Crystal structure analysis data shows that the RBD epitope recognized by the most active antibody 2B11 overlaps with the binding site of ACE2, which can effectively block the binding of the new coronavirus to ACE-2 on the cell surface, thereby preventing it from infecting cells.

The crystal structure of 2B11-Fab and SARS-CoV-2RBD complex

At the same time, the research team also used the hACE2-adenovirus (hACE2-ADV) transduced IFNAR-/- mouse model to evaluate the preventive and therapeutic effects of 2B11 on SARS-CoV-2 infection. The results of the study showed that compared with the control group, the administration of 2B11 before or after the challenge could significantly reduce the weight loss and lung viral load caused by viral infection; further analysis of lung pathological tissue sections showed that the administration of 2B11 could significantly Reduce lung inflammation caused by viral infection.

Recent supplementary research results show that 2B11 has a neutralizing activity that is highly consistent with that of the wild strain, indicating that 2B11 has greater application value in the short-term prevention and early treatment of new coronary pneumonia caused by the Delta mutant.

It is reported that monoclonal antibodies, as targeted therapeutic drugs, have the characteristics of strong specificity, significant curative effect and low toxicity. They are known as "biological missiles" and have shown excellent efficacy and broad application prospects in the treatment of various diseases. In response to viral infectious diseases, a neutralizing monoclonal antibody can specifically neutralize the virus and prevent the virus from entering the cell to proliferate. It can be used as a short-term prevention for high-risk populations and can also be used for the treatment of diseases after viral infections Therefore, it is also a hot spot in global research on the prevention and control of the new crown epidemic.

The news was announced at 2pm on the 4th, and the market responded quickly.

The share prices of the two listed companies of Sinopharm Group, Sinopharm and Sinopharm Accord, suddenly rose near the end of the trading session, and Sinopharm once rose by more than 8%. As of the close of the day, Sinopharm shares rose 5.93% to 33.23 yuan per share. Sinopharm unanimously rose 2.86% to 36.66 yuan per share.

Faced with the enthusiasm of the market, Sinopharm issued an explanatory announcement before the market on the 5th, stating:

The company's main business is pharmaceutical wholesale, and does not involve the research and development and production of vaccines and drugs. The research and development and production of vaccines and drugs belong to the company's actual controller, China National Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., and the company's main business has not undergone major changes.

However, on the 5th, Sinopharm shares still opened higher, rising by more than 7% in the early trading, and then falling back. As of the lunch break, they rose 3.13% to 34.27 yuan per share, with a total market value of 25.8 billion yuan.

Sinopharm Accord also opened higher on the 5th. It rose by 6% in early trading, and then fell back. As of the lunch break, it rose by 2.29% to 37.5 yuan per share, with a total market value of 16 billion yuan.

02

Multiple "Delta" mutant strains isolated

Kangtai Biotech's share price soared 12%

In addition, according to media reports on the afternoon of the 4th, Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co., Ltd. has made important progress in its vaccine research and development project for the new crown virus variants. It has successfully isolated a number of delta variants monoclonal virus strains, and the follow-up will strictly follow the human use. Vaccine quality requires strain evaluation, screening of vaccine strains, and preparations for the production of inactivated new crown vaccines against the Delta mutant strain.

In addition, the results of cross-neutralization experiments conducted by the company show that: as of now, the "Kovic" inactivated vaccine for new crowns that has been approved for emergency use can also produce a good neutralization response against a variety of new crown variants and is still protective. .

Stimulated by the news, Kangtai Biopharmaceuticals opened higher in the morning and rose by more than 15%. After that, the growth rate fell slightly. As of the lunch break, it rose by 12.35%, and its market value increased by 11.6 billion yuan. The current total market value is 105.7 billion yuan.

It is worth noting that after the market on August 1, Kangtai Biological issued an announcement showing that the company intends to issue 20 million convertible bonds to unspecified objects. The initial conversion price is 145.63 yuan per share, and the fundraising does not exceed 2 billion yuan. All projects related to the production of new crown vaccines such as the new crown vaccine inactivated vaccine and the adenovirus vector new crown vaccine.

According to the convertible bond application listing announcement, after deducting the issuance cost, all the funds raised will be invested in the Piowangxin emergency engineering construction project and the adenovirus vector new crown vaccine workshop project. Both projects are used to produce the new crown vaccine. They are planned to be separate Invested raised funds of 1.357 billion yuan and 643 million yuan. After it is put into production, the designed production capacity of the fund-raising projects will total 400 million doses per year.

03

How to deal with Delta?

Zhang Wenhong: The protective effect of the vaccine is beyond doubt

In the face of cunning variants of the new crown virus and an increasingly complex global epidemic, vaccines are still the strongest line of defense.

On August 4, Shanghai held a press conference on the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic. At the meeting, Zhang Wenhong, the leader of the Shanghai new crown pneumonia clinical treatment expert team pointed out that the delta virus has gradually evolved into a faster spreading speed in the global spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic. A virus, through its recent epidemic in China, everyone has realized that this virus spreads faster, has a longer incubation period, and has a relatively high viral load. Recently, there have been many transmissions and spreads caused by imported epidemics in China, which are related to the faster spread of delta virus.

"We can't think that we don't have the ability to deal with delta virus." Zhang Wenhong said that delta virus is currently the most mainstream virus in the world, and most of the country's epidemic strains are delta viruses. Whether the imported virus in China is in other cities or in Shanghai this time, although the source is different, they are all delta viruses.

"Under such circumstances, many people will have a view that the virus has been mutating, is there no way we can do it? Especially recently in some countries where vaccination has achieved relatively good results, the epidemic has also repeated, which has also affected Everyone's enthusiasm for vaccination." Zhang Wenhong noted.

He pointed out that from a more scientific point of view, after the delta virus has spread globally, more and more data have been obtained in clinical research and real event research, especially in countries with very good vaccination, the data is more sufficient . "Recently, we have accumulated some data after confronting the delta virus head-on. The result is more consistent with foreign data, that is, the number of infection vaccine breakthroughs caused by the delta strain has increased compared with the original virus strain. But everyone can see without exception that vaccines have sharply reduced the severity and death caused by delta strains, which means that the protective effect of current vaccines on delta strains is beyond doubt."

Image source: Xinhua News Agency

Zhang Wenhong said that the virus will continue to mutate. After it mutates, the vaccine will not prevent and control it 100%. When the protection efficiency declines, our solution is to further expand the vaccination and deal with the virus through vaccination.的variation. If the WHO confirms that the virus mutation has completely evaded the effect of the vaccine on it, please rest assured that a vaccine against the virus will also be developed. The so-called "the magic is one foot high, the road is one foot high" is this truth.

He pointed out that for the delta virus, one is to resolutely implement the strategy of vaccination, and the other is to strengthen personal hygiene, which is the "three-piece" and "five-requirement" measures that have been repeatedly emphasized. "In the current battle between the delta virus and humans, the situation is still within human control."

It is worth noting that on July 30, Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, stated that based on the study of the outbreak of the delta variant of Guangzhou's new crown virus in May this year, the domestic vaccine has a 100% protective effect on severe illness, and it has a protection effect of 100% for moderate, mild, and moderate The asymptomatic protective effects were 76.9%, 67.2%, and 63.2%, respectively.

In addition, at present, my country's vaccine manufacturers are also conducting research on the effects of the third booster needle. On July 25, Kexing Vaccine uploaded a study to the preprint platform medRxiv, and a paper introduced a result. According to the study, the third shot of the new crown inactivated vaccine greatly increased the immune response, and the neutralizing antibody titer was several times higher than that after the two shots, but whether the mutant strain has the same effect remains to be studied.

Following the release of the data on the booster shot of Kexing's new crown vaccine, the mRNA new crown vaccine BNT162b2 developed by Pfizer/BioNTech also announced the booster data. Vaccination of the third shot of BNT162b2 can increase the number of neutralizing antibody titers against the original strain and the variant strain. For mutant strains, especially Delta mutant strains, the third dose of BNT162b2 can also bring similar effects.

null of the above data has been peer reviewed. Pfizer stated that it has submitted the above data to academic journals for publication.

04

The more dangerous mutant strain Lambda is coming

With the global pandemic of the new coronavirus, new virus mutant strains continue to appear: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, etc., some of which have stronger infection ability and immune escape ability, so they have been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) Listed as a key concern.

On July 31, the National Health Commission clearly stated that the Delta mutant strain has the characteristics of high viral load, strong transmission ability, fast transmission speed, and long time to turn negative.

According to current global data, the transmission rate of the Delta strain is about 60% higher than that of the Alpha (Alpha) variant, and the transmission rate of Alpha is 50% higher than that of the original strain of the new coronavirus because of the change in the protein structure of the new coronavirus. , But thankfully, the delta variant has not been observed to cause a higher mortality rate.

While Delta raged wildly, the more dangerous mutant strain of Lambda also aroused the vigilance of the scientific community. Recently, researchers from the University of Tokyo in Japan published an article on the U.S. Biology Open Access preprint platform that the lambda (λ) variant strain of the new coronavirus is not only highly contagious, but also likely to evade neutralizing antibodies.

In August 2020, scientists discovered a mutant strain of the new coronavirus C.37 in Peru for the first time. The WHO named it "lamda". At present, the mutant strain of lambda has spread to more than 30 countries.

Japanese researchers claim that the spike protein of the lambda mutant strain is highly infectious, and the "culprit" that causes this high infectivity is the two mutations T761 and L452Q that appear in the virus. These two mutations have changed. This variant binds to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 cell receptor.

The study also pointed out that mutations allow lambda mutant strains to fight immunity. Among them, RSYLTPGD246-253N mutation is responsible for evading neutralizing antibodies. Experts describe this mutation as a "unique" mutation that only exists in lambda mutant viruses. .

In fact, the immune escape of Lambda has been confirmed by data in Chile. Before the large-scale spread of Lambda, the vaccination rate in Chile was relatively high. About 60% of the population received at least one dose of the new crown vaccine. However, since 2021 Since the spring, the number of new crown infections in Chile has increased rapidly, and the culprit is the lambda mutant strain. Therefore, the researchers believe that the lambda mutant strain can evade the immune response induced by the vaccine.

At present, the lambda mutant strain has spread in dozens of South American countries including Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Ecuador. More than 80% of the new coronavirus cases in Peru are infected with the lambda mutant strain. Peru's per capita death rate from the new crown has soared to the highest in the world. In addition, the United Kingdom and other European countries have also found infected persons with lambda mutant strains.

Earlier, the WHO Committee reminded that there is a high possibility that new, potentially more dangerous, and worrying variants will appear and spread globally, and that this new virus variant may be more difficult to control.