Treatment and prevention strategies for the COVID 19 pandemic: A review of immunotherapeutic approaches for neutralizing SARS-CoV-2

Researchers from the world over are working to create prophylactic and therapeutic interventions to combat the COVID-19 global healthcare crisis. The current therapeutic options against the COVID-19 include repurposed drugs aimed at targets other than virus-specific proteins. Antibody-based therapeutics carry a lot of promise, and there are several of these candidates for COVID-19 treatment currently being investigated in the preclinical and clinical research stages around the world. The viral spike protein (S protein) appears to be the main target of antibody development candidates, with the majority being monoclonal antibodies. Several antibody candidates targeting the SARS-CoV-2 S protein include LY-CoV555, REGN-COV2, JS016, TY027, CT-P59, BRII-196, BRII-198 and SCTA01. These neutralizing antibodies will treat COVID-19 and possibly future coronavirus infections. Future studies should focus on effective immune-therapeutics and immunomodulators with the purpose of developing specific, affordable, and cost-effective prophylactic and treatment regimens to fight the COVID-19 globally.