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Kwon Jun-uk, director of the Korea National Institute of Health, during a briefing on the novel coronavirus outbreak in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, on Mar. 10. (Yonhap News)

The Korea National Institute of Health, under the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), has successfully created a protein that can identify and isolate antibodies for the novel coronavirus from the blood. This takes us a step closer to developing a vaccine and medication for treating COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. The public health authorities have announced that they’ll be doing their best to make the treatment available within 18 months.

“We’ve managed to develop a protein capable of detecting COVID-19 antibodies, an essential step in developing a medicine for treating the disease,” the National Institute of Health said on Mar. 10. This unique protein, known as a “probe,” can be used to detect the B cells that produce neutralizing antibodies in the blood of a COVID-19 patient in the recovery phase. Neutralizing antibodies are those that can disable or destroy the coronavirus, which is technically termed SARS-CoV-2.

“This makes it possible to produce antibodies for SARS-CoV-2. Going forward, we plan to purify various COVID-19 antigen proteins and set up a neutralization test to assess their therapeutic effectiveness,” the institute said.

The institute has already made two announcements encouraging other researchers to take part in the 12 critical tasks needed to make headway in treating COVID-19. In addition to its work with antibodies, the institute is planning to develop medication using the plasma of patients in the recovery phase.

“Promoting research in collaboration with other groups in the corporate, academic and medical sectors will move us closer to developing a COVID-19 medication that can be put to clinical use,” said Kim Seong-sun, head of the institute’s infectious disease research center.

“There are still several rounds of verification and testing that are required for developing a vaccine and medication,” said Kwon Jun-uk, director of the Korea National Institute of Health, in a briefing on Tuesday. “The WHO director-general has promised to work toward making a vaccine available within 18 months, and we’ll also be doing everything we can in line with that hope.”

By Lee Yu-jin, staff reporter

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