Atlanta 1 of 3 places performing human trials of COVID-19 antibody therapy

ATLANTA — Emory University is one of three places in the country doing human trials on treating COVID-19 with antibodies.

Eli Lilly and Company announced Monday that patients hospitalized in Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles are now receiving the antibody therapy.

The tweet reads, “Lilly scientists delivered the first doses of our potential COVID-19 antibody treatment, flown to hospitals in several U.S. cities to start the world’s first human study of this kind of therapy to fight COVID infections.”

The company’s chief scientific officer says as soon as the pandemic started, his team went to work to create a new medicine for the disease.

The medicine was the result of a blood sample from one of the first U.S. patients who recovered from COVID-19.

[COVID-19 antibodies don’t necessarily mean immunity]

Researchers then sorted through millions of that patient’s cells to find hundreds of antibodies.

The trial’s first phase will test whether the therapy is safe and well-tolerated, with results expected later this month.

If the trial proves to be effective against COVID-19, the treatment could be available by fall.

Last week, the Atlanta based CDC said antibody tests may be wrong up to half the time. That's why it recommends testing people twice.

The tests look for evidence of an immune response to infection.

The antibodies can sometimes be detected in people within the first week of getting the coronavirus.

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