The Antibody Avenger and the Quest for a COVID-19 Cure
Vaccines are rolling out with increasing speed, but we鈥檒l also need effective treatments, because new coronavirus cases will be a worldwide reality for years to come. Enter Jacob Glanville, a maverick San Francisco immunologist who believes he鈥檚 found an unparalleled path to healing.
New perk: Easily find new routes and hidden gems, upcoming running events, and more near you. Your weekly Local Running Newsletter has everything you need to lace up! .
Since the early days of the pandemic, Jacob Glanville, a 40-year-old skateboarding immunologist with a silver tongue and a knack for self-promotion, has been proclaiming that he would develop the world鈥檚 best COVID-19 treatment. Few competitors believed him. Most just scoffed. But Glanville, then the chief executive officer of a tiny San Francisco company called Distributed Bio, has made significant progress, successfully creating an antibody that neutralizes the coronavirus in hamsters, an animal model for humans. He鈥檚 far behind the pharmaceutical giants Regeneron and Eli Lilly鈥攂oth of聽which won of antibody-based treatments in November 2020鈥攂ut his work is still important. With聽a total of $9 million invested so far, his discoveries have cost only a fraction of what the big firms have spent on their research. He says his treatment will work well and be more affordable鈥攖hink $900 per dose instead of the $2,000 per that Regeneron charges. 鈥淚鈥檝e got the best-in-class therapeutic,鈥 Glanville told me recently, repeating a line he鈥檚 used often since April 2019.
Given the FDA鈥檚 approval of the first vaccine on December 11, 2020, you might be wondering why you should care about Glanville or his drug. It鈥檚 because won鈥檛 end the pandemic. That鈥檚 especially true in the U.S., where so many people see their freedom to get sick and pass it along as a basic right. The chilling truth is that, at this point, it鈥檚 effectively impossible to vaccinate enough people worldwide to vanquish COVID-19. And so, as with聽the flu, the deadly virus is likely to remain resident among us, destined to cause breakouts聽every year. You should care about Glanville鈥攁long with the many other drug manufacturers still pushing their creations forward鈥攂ecause, odds are, the best COVID-19 treatments aren鈥檛 available yet. If Glanville is right, he could save many lives all over the planet.