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New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

hms.harvard.edu

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Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#61

Post by feet »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #46
Jalad wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it would make a lot of sense if "any patents arising from research done with monies given by will confer on a lifetime perpetual non-exclusive right to use and re-license said patent on what ever terms they deem acceptable." If this were implemented, wouldn't it just be the case that no one would take your money?

Perhaps, I haven't been personally involved in a university lab looking for grant money so I don't know if they would turn down a grant if it required that any patentable work be also licensed to the grantor organization. And to be clear, I don't expect this situation to change any time soon. Just annoyed by it.

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to understand the system you're criticizing a bit better before moving ahead and criticizing it

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#62

Post by mlyle »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #33
osigurdson wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've often wondered if other viruses (below) could possibly mutate into a more dangerous form. Perhaps there is a reason why they cannot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_virus_species

They can, they just usually don't, as more dangerous viruses kill their host before they can spread as far...

Sometimes this can be an effect that causes viruses to mutate to be less virulent.

On the other hand, faster replication is also often selected for, which often corresponds to more virulence.

Both trends have been observed, depending on a whole lot of complex factors.

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#63

Post by mlyle »

unsupp0rted wrote: post #48
Teever wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was under the impression that we can mutate it into a corner because there are only so many shapes it can mutate into before it doesn't work and the virus can't get into cells.

I'm not sure about that. There are probably hundreds or thousands of still-viable mutations it might come up with at random, and we don't want to inject dozens of vaccine candidates to deal with them. Or maybe we do? A lot of adults have probably had a dozen or two dozen varying flu shots.

It's not like the virus waits until we start hitting it with a vaccine, and then mutates in response.

There's a certain amount of variation in the population. More fit genes are more common.

If there's other variations of this portion of the spike protein out there, they're almost certainly less fit than the overwhelmingly predominant type. Maybe if the predominant type is severely attenuated by vaccine these will get more chance to replicate and become a bit fitter, but there's no guarantee they climb up to parity with the "old design".

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#64

Post by sebow »

xupybd wrote: post #57

Can we please have this sort of research for the common cold and flu please. I hate flu season, I'm normally sick three of four times a winter. I get really sick at least once a year. I'd love to avoid that.

I don't think this will ever happen. In my opinion the general cold / flu are just "normal" diseases indicative of low immunity. They're not so specific like covid, pox, etc. Though I'm not saying there won't exist medication with immediate effect (because common cold is fairly decent understood), but that there won't be a "one time" medication that will proof our entire lives from such things.

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#65

Post by psychphysic »

xupybd wrote: post #57

Can we please have this sort of research for the common cold and flu please. I hate flu season, I'm normally sick three of four times a winter. I get really sick at least once a year. I'd love to avoid that.

Unless you're licking buttons on the subway, how could you possibly be getting exposed to that many different strains?

For what it's worth adults get the flu about every 5 years[0]. It's not till we get elderly that we can start catching the same or similar strains more frequently.

Similarly with the cold, which are coronaviruses like COVID just lead to less lasting immunity.

Long story short. This kind of research won't help, give it several hundred years and the number of COVID variants will be similarly broad as cold and flus and people will catch them at a stable rate.

[0] https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/jou...

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#66

Post by psychphysic »

sebow wrote: post #64
xupybd wrote: post #57

Can we please have this sort of research for the common cold and flu please. I hate flu season, I'm normally sick three of four times a winter. I get really sick at least once a year. I'd love to avoid that.

I don't think this will ever happen. In my opinion the general cold / flu are just "normal" diseases indicative of low immunity. They're not so specific like covid, pox, etc. Though I'm not saying there won't exist medication with immediate effect (because common cold is fairly decent understood), but that there won't be a "one time" medication that will proof our entire lives from such things.

Not quite, new variants develop and new to adult variants will appear every few years.

It's less able to spread than COVID so adults get the flu about every 5 years[0].

I'm sure you've heard of Spanish flu by now, but may not have heard of Encephalitis Lethargica [1] that followed it.

Luckily nothing like that has happened again and CFS is tame in comparison. But the flu still has surprises in store for us.

[0] https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/jou...

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalitis_lethargica

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#67

Post by hkt »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #26

From the article: The researchers have applied for patents on both the antibodies and the mouse model used to produce them. They hope to see their work developed commercially. ... followed by This work was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (INV-021989), the National institutes of Health (NIAID Consortia for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development UM1-AI144371, P01 AI158571, Ma…

I've always been confused about the arbitrary lengths of patents. Surely for something like this, six months or a year is fine? Enough time to get to market and make a considerable size of buck, but brief enough that a much needed thing that is subsidised by public money can be used as widely as possible. (Remember, philanthropic funds are often treated favourably for tax, so are, in a way, also public-ish money)

On the other hand, you may have invented a novel type of hammock which is neat but has no social function, so, by all means have a quarter of a century of monopoly on that.

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#68

Post by cesaref »

mlyle wrote: post #63
unsupp0rted wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure about that. There are probably hundreds or thousands of still-viable mutations it might come up with at random, and we don't want to inject dozens of vaccine candidates to deal with them. Or maybe we do? A lot of adults have probably had a dozen or two dozen varying flu shots.

It's not like the virus waits until we start hitting it with a vaccine, and then mutates in response. There's a certain amount of variation in the population. More fit genes are more common. If there's other variations of this portion of the spike protein out there, they're almost certainly less fit than the overwhelmingly predominant type. Maybe if the predominant type is severely attenuated by vaccine these will ge…

True, but it also works the other way, the variations that are currently less successful but have a mutation that avoids this antibody may be more virulent.

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#69

Post by ChuckMcM »

feet wrote: post #61
ChuckMcM wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, I haven't been personally involved in a university lab looking for grant money so I don't know if they would turn down a grant if it required that any patentable work be also licensed to the grantor organization. And to be clear, I don't expect this situation to change any time soon. Just annoyed by it.

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to understand the system you're criticizing a bit better before moving ahead and criticizing it

Perhaps.

If you feel you have an understanding of the system I'm criticizing, why not help me understand why it has to be this way? I get it if you don't have the time or inclination to do so, but surprisingly I'm actually really open to learning new things and it would be appreciated not only by me but by other people reading your comments if you could explain the current system, perhaps other systems that have been tried and failed, and perhaps compare it with other systems (if they exist) that don't do it this way (giving the IP to the university even though it might be considered, by some less knowledgeable people, to be a 'work for hire.' Where it would seem that the agencies providing grants are doing the hiring.

Always ready to listen an learn new things.

Re: New antibody neutralizes all known SARS-CoV-2 variants in lab tests

#70

Post by peteradio »

heavyset_go wrote: post #54
peteradio wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where does the worry come from regarding drug resistant bacteria why would that worry not have a viral analog?

Drug-resistant bacteria are the result of misuse and incomplete use of antibiotics, and the environmental spread from waste of antibiotics. Also, bacteria can share genes horizontally, meaning resistance in one species can transfer to another quickly. Antibiotic resistance in bacteria is mainly from misuse in humans and animals, and disease spread between the two, along with ineffective waste treatment and the leachi…

Thanks!
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