THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The EU’s drug watchdog warned on Friday that antibody remedies for COVID are ineffective in opposition to the latest and more and more dominant strains of the illness.
Numerous monoclonal antibodies, that are given by injection or infusion in hospital, have helped blunt the worst of the illness for at-risk or hospitalized sufferers.
They work by concentrating on the spike protein of the virus.
But the European Medicines Agency (EMA) “cautioned (they) are unlikely to be effective against emerging strains”.
Lab exams confirmed they “are poorly effective at neutralizing Omicron strains BA.4.6, BA.2.75.2 and XBB,” the Amsterdam-based regulator stated in a press release.
They additionally “do not significantly neutralize BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, which are expected to become the dominant strains in the EU in the coming weeks”.
The predominant antibody remedies embrace AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, Roche’s Ronapreve, and GSK and Vir’s Xevudy.
Antiviral remedies resembling Pfizer’s Paxlovid are anticipated to stay efficient and so EU states ought to replenish on them for high-risk sufferers, the EMA stated.
Monoclonal antibodies had been proven to scale back the chance of hospitalization and dying by as much as 80 %, however they’ve misplaced their edge because the virus has mutated.
The World Health Organization in September really useful in opposition to utilizing Xevudy and Ronapreve as a result of that they had stopped being efficient in opposition to new variants.
COVID has stored evolving because it emerged in China on the finish of 2019 to trigger a world pandemic that’s now waning.
While earlier “variants of concern” like Alpha and Delta ultimately petered out, Omicron and its sub-lineages have dominated all through 2022 and look set to proceed into 2023. — Agence France-Presse
