NIH-Sponsored Trial of Enterovirus D68 Therapeutic Begins Monoclonal Antibody Developed from Blood of Recovering Patients

https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/nih-sponsored-trial-enterovirus-d68-therapeutic-begins?utm_campaign=+61168066&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term= A NIAID-sponsored clinical trial has begun to evaluate the safety of an investigational monoclonal antibody to treat enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), which can cause severe respiratory and polio-like neurological disease – such as acute flaccid myelitis (AFM). Scientists are striving to better understand AFM, which has emerged in the United States with spikes in cases every other year, primarily in the late-summer months over the last decade. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified increases in AFM cases in 2014, 2016, and 2018. There are no Food and Drug Administration-approved treatments for severe EV-D68 infection or AFM. Clinical Trial NCT06444048 will enroll 36 healthy volunteers ages 18 to 49 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Maryland.