Lack of Covid-19 vaccine pushes DARPA to develop a therapeutic "Shield"

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By Matthew Griffin Security and Privacy 30th March 2020

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

It takes years to develop vaccines, but when pandemics emerge you only have months and that’s not enough time so DARPA are trying to create a therapeutic shield to protect people until they arrive.

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Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been highlighting some of the innovative ways, in some cases very innovative life-saving ways that governments and people around the world have been using to try to battle the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19. And this week I’m going to turn my attention from fighting the spread of the disease that’s so far infected over 700,000 people and killed over 20,000 to killing it.

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A couple of weeks ago I talked about how the US government and big pharma were using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and supercomputers to discover viable compounds that could be used to create a new COVID-19 vaccine. But before then, many years ago, I discussed a new initiative run by the bleeding edge research arm of the US military, DARPA, called the Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) that aimed to “dramatically accelerate discovery, integration, pre-clinical testing, and manufacturing of medical countermeasures against infectious diseases.” AKA identify and kill pandemics and pandemic diseases within just 90 days of their emergence – bearing in mind that this activity, to go from identification to vaccine, used to take ten years and even with every government and pharmaceutical company in the world focusing on the space will still likely take over 18 months.

Defeat a Pandemic in 60 days

Source: DARPA

While at the time DARPA couldn’t have predicted COVID-19 it’s absolutely clear that we need the P3 platform, now more than ever, so in order to try to accelerate the development of a “cure” DARPA are now working on creating what they call a therapeutic “shield” that could be mass produced to provide temporary protection for people from diseases like the coronavirus, boosting their immunity until an actual Covid-9 vaccine is developed. The result could also help slow the viruses’ advance, buying time for hard-pressed hospitals and clinics worldwide.

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At the moment DARPA is funding efforts to create such a shield, or therapy, by studying COVID-19 samples from individuals who have already recovered from the virus, and scientists working with the organisation’s P3 teams are currently sequencing the B cells of one individual who recovered from COVID-19. B cells create antibodies, proteins created by the human immune system to fight a particular invading microorganism.

If scientists can successfully sequence the B cells, the hope is that they can create a therapy that causes humans to build up an arsenal of COVID-19-fighting antibodies before infection takes place. That could make it more difficult for a person treated with the therapy to come down with the disease, buying time until that person can be vaccinated. According to DefenseOne, the therapy might also be useful for those already infected with the virus.

In many countries fighting the disease the key to keeping mortality down is the availability of intensive care unit beds and respirators. If the number of patients exceeds the number of critical care beds, mortality begins to rise. A therapeutic could spread out infections over a longer period of time, preventing hospitals from being overwhelmed.

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But as and when the therapy is developed it could be controversial. Similar therapies, according to NPR, have only involved tens of test subjects, not hundreds or even thousands. The science behind the process is sound and progress could be rapid: the head of the PPP program is quoted by NPR as saying the therapy could be ready in as little as three months, which would be a stupendous achievement especially as according to most medical authorities, a COVID-19 vaccine is at least 12-18 months away.

The US is currently under-testing compared to much of the industrialiSed world, and we don’t know the extent of the disease’s spread so DARPA’s therapeutic could become instrumental in fighting the spread of the disease across the US, and even the world.

Source: DefenseOne

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.