Just In:US biotech company claims it has discovered cure for coronavirus

Scientists at a California biotech company have found an antibody that completely blocks coronavirus in a discovery they called a ‘cure,’ Fox News reports.

Sorrento Therapeutics, based in San Diego, claims its STI-1499 antibody stopped coronavirus from entering 100 percent of healthy human cells in petri dish experiments.

It’s one of several antibodies planned to be combined for a drug ‘cocktail’ Sorrento is developing in collaboration with Mt Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

In a press release, Sorrento said it could produce up to 200,000 doses of the antibody a month – a production timeline that would likely make the drug available months sooner than a COVID-19 vaccine is expected.

The company has filed for emergency approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but has not yet received the green light.

Stocks for Sorrento soared by nearly 220 percent on the heels of the announcement.

‘We want to emphasize there is a cure,’ Sorrento’s CEO, Dr Henry Ji, told Fox.

‘There is a solution that works 100 percent.

‘If we have the neutralizing antibody in your body, you don’t need the social distancing. You can open up a society without fear.’