New Covid-19 antibody trials

(KION) There is a potential Covid-19 treatment that researchers say typically takes years to develop, but this week, a new antibody effort has launched for people with Covid-19.

The National Institutes of Health has announced the launch of two advanced trials testing synthetic antibodies in patients with Covid-19.

"It's extremely scary," says LaCrista Bishop, who has recovered from Covid-19.

For LaCrista and her husband, Aaron Bishop, they have hope for new research in the fight against Covid-19, which the couple was able to beat.

"Recovering from it, we know the severity, and I'll just say it- I mean I thank God everyday that he kept us in the midst of all of this that we were able to become survivors and not experience the things that others have experienced," says Aaron Bishop.

Researchers with the National Institutes of Health are looking for more than 200 volunteers with Covid-19 symptoms who have tested positive and have not been admitted to the hospital.

Participants are invited to take an experimental therapy. For that therapy, scientists isolate an antibody from a blood sample in a Covid-19 survivor then copy it. They hope the man-made antibodies can shorten the severity of Covid-19 as well as block the virus' ability to infect. The second phase of the trials are expected to wrap up in about eight weeks. Researchers should know by October or November if the therapy works.

"It's exciting to identify that as an opportunity," says LaCrista Bishop.

The couple plans to donate their plasma with the hope that it could help future research of the coronavirus.

If the man-made antibodies show promise, the study would then expand immediately to another trial with a larger volunteer group of patients with Covid-19 and are hospitalized.

If you meet the qualifications and want to get involved, visit: www.NIH.gov.