KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 9): Researchers at Tel Aviv University have isolated two antibodies that neutralise all known strains of Covid-19 — including Omicron — with up to 95% efficiency, and which would strengthen the immune system of people at risk.

Israeli media reported that the study was published in the Communications Biology journal under the title “Conformational flexibility in neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 by naturally elicited anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies”.

Targeted treatment with antibodies and their delivery to the body in high concentrations may serve as an effective substitute for vaccines, especially for at-risk populations and those with a weakened immune system, according to the researchers.

By using antibody treatment, there is a possibility that the need to provide repeated booster shots to the entire population every time a new variant emerges will be eliminated.

The research was led by Dr Natalia Freund and doctoral students Michael Mor and Ruofan Lee of the Department of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

The study was conducted in collaboration with Dr Ben Croker of the University of California at San Diego.

Also taking part in the study were Professor Ye Xiang of Tsinghua University in Beijing, Prof Meital Gal-Tanamy and Dr Moshe Dessau of Bar-Ilan University.

Freund said the researchers were not the only ones to isolate these antibodies, and the global health system made extensive use of them until the arrival of the different variants of the coronavirus, which in fact rendered most of those antibodies useless.

“In the current study, we proved that two other antibodies named TAU-1109 and TAU-2310 that bind the viral spike protein in a different area from the region where most of the antibodies were concentrated until now (and were thus less effective in neutralising the original strain) are actually very effective in neutralising the Delta and Omicron variants.

“According to our findings, the effectiveness of the first antibody, TAU-1109, in neutralising the Omicron strain is 92%, and in neutralising the Delta strain, it is 90%. The second antibody, TAU-2310, neutralises the Omicron variant with an efficacy of 84%, and the Delta variant with an efficacy of 97%,” said Freund.