Israel’s Defense Minister, Naftali Bennett, announced yesterday that the country’s Biological Research Institute (IIBR) is developing an antibody for Covid-19, a disease caused by the new coronavirus. According to the Times newspaper of Israel, Bennett said researchers have already gone through the antibody development phase and are already moving to start mass production of the treatment.

In an official statement, the Minister said he visited the institute and was presented with an “antibody that attacks the virus in a monoclonal manner and can neutralize it in the bodies of patients”. According to the note, the development of the treatment is complete, only missing the patent before being offered to companies interested in producing it on a commercial scale.

“I am proud of the institute staff for this great breakthrough”, said Bennett in the statement. “Their creativity and Jewish thinking have brought us to this great achievement”, he added.

The Israeli press had already announced in late March an advanced-stage research regarding a treatment for the new coronavirus. The country’s Ministry of Defense gave no further details, and has not informed if human trials have been conducted.

About 100 researches around the world are targeted to vaccines for the disease. However, there are no estimates concerning the production of a definitive vaccine.

Data from Johns Hopkins University in the USA reports that 16,268 cases of the new coronavirus have already been accounted for in Israel, with 10,223 patients recovered and 237 deaths.