When the COVID-19 pandemic first occurred, there were no specific treatments available to treat the infection. However, the FDA has reported several monoclonal antibody therapies that may help in the treatment of coronavirus infection. However, a new study has found that most of these antibody therapies do not inhibit the emerging subvariants of Omicron.
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According to a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, eight out of ten available antibody therapies for treating COVID-19 patients fail to suppress new and emerging Omicron subvariants such as BA.2.12.1, BA.4, and BA. .5. For the analysis, researchers at the German Primate Center (DPZ)-Leibniz Institute for Primate Research examined 10 therapeutic antibodies, including GlaxoSmithKline's Sotrovimab, AstraZeneca's Tixagevimab and Cilgavimab (packaged at Evusheld), Bebtelovimab, and Eli Lilly's combination of Bamlanivimab and Etesevimab. , Casirivimab-I.
Tixagevimab and Cilgavimab (packaged at Evusheld), Bebtelovimab, and Eli Lilly's combination of Bamlanivimab and Etesevimab. , Casirivimab-I. According to the study results, only one antibody known as Bebtelovimab effectively prevented infection by all Omicron subvariants, and only two were able to substantially inhibit BA.2.12.1, BA.4, and BA.5.
Furthermore, the study demonstrates that antibodies produced after immunization or inoculation followed by infection suppress BA.2.12.1, and in particular BA.4 and BA.5, worse than their precursors BA.1 and BA.2. there are BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5 escapement variations. According to the researchers, a transmission infection with "old" subvariants of Omicron provides only minimal protection against infection with "new" subvariants.
In the spring of 2022, antibodies from unvaccinated people who had contracted BA.1 or BA.2 effectively neutralized BA.2.12.1, but were substantially less effective against BA.4 and BA.5. As a result, a previous infection with BA.1 or BA.2 is likely to offer minimal defense against a subsequent infection with BA.4 or BA.5.
Three doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer mRNA vaccine produced antibodies that inhibited all Omicron subvariants. However, the inhibition of BA.2.12.1, BA.4, and BA.5 was less effective than that of BA.1 and BA.2.A, and the inhibition was less effective compared to that measured for a virus that circulated early during the pandemic
Similar results were achieved when breakthrough infection was combined with antibodies produced during immunization. Although the total neutralizing activity against all variants tested was enhanced due to so-called hybrid immunity, the inhibition of BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5 was substantially less inhibited.