Answer to whether Covid-19 antibodies confer immunity possible by early July
Roche Holding AG
€0.00
07:46 20/03/24
Does having antibodies for the coronavirus confer immunity?
Abbott Laboratories
$107.28
11:04 19/04/24
The answer may possibly come as soon as early July 2020, analysts at Citi said.
Large diagnostic outfits including Roche and Abbot were on the cusp of delivering highly specific and scalable antibody tests for SARS-CoV2, the broker said.
Hence, Citi anticipated such companies would quickly scale up antibody testing with randomized controlled phase III clinical trial in healthcare workers with a previous high exposure to the virus set to start soon.
That would allow scientists to establish if the baseline amount of antibodies lowered the risk of a repeat infection, what amount was needed for immunity and if having them reduced or potentially worsened the symptoms of an infection.
"We anticipate initial data as early as two months post trial initiation (data potentially available as early as early July 2020)."