The infectologist Stefano Di Bella, member of the team that developed the international patent application on the use of albumin for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 owned by Ulisse BioMed, gave an interview to the newspaper Piccolo of Trieste (full interview here) in which he illustrates the content of the study recently published in the international scientific journal Infectuos Disease Report. Dr. Di Bella pointed out that the study shows that albumin, the most abundant protein in human plasma, appears to act as a universal barrier against various infections, including COVID-19. The study showed that low albumin levels are related to a poor prognosis for patients affected by COVID-19 and that it is possible to define predictive thresholds to optimize patients’ triage and to identify the need for invasive mechanical ventilation, to estimate the length of hospital stay as well as the 90-day mortality rate. This evidence lay the foundations for the development of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic solutions based on albumin. Dr. Di Bella also pointed out that serum albumin levels are already used by US insurance companies to determine the insurance premium for health coverage, confirming the correlation between albumin levels and the probability of develop pathologies.

Dr. Bruna Marini, co-founder and chief operating officer of Ulisse BioMed, also release an interview to the Piccolo of Trieste (full interview here) underlying that these studies are essential to develop new diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic strategies. Further research is underway to explore new applications of albumin in the fight against COVID-19 and other emerging pathogens.