First-ever potential treatment for MERS disease identified

Scientists have for the first time identified two promising drug candidates to prevent and treat the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) disease.

Researchers discovered and validated two therapeutics that show early promise in preventing and treating the disease, which can cause severe respiratory symptoms, and has a death rate of 40 <g data-gr-id="19">per cent</g>.

These therapeutics are the first to succeed in protecting and treating animal models of the MERS virus, researchers said.

“While early, this is very <g data-gr-id="20">exciting,</g> and has real potential to help MERS patients,” said lead researcher, Matthew B Frieman, from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM).

“We hope that <g data-gr-id="22">clinical</g> study will progress on these two antibodies to see whether they can eventually be used to help humans infected with the virus,” said Frieman.

The two antibodies, REGN3051 and REGN3048, showed an ability to neutralise the virus.

The research, done in collaboration with Regeneron, a biopharmaceutical company based in Tarrytown, New York, used several of the company’s proprietary technologies to search for and validate effective antibodies targeting the virus.

MERS was first discovered in 2012 in Saudi Arabia. It appears that the disease spread to humans from camels, who may themselves been infected by bats, researchers said.