The World Health Organization has recommended the use of two antibody treatments for the coronavirus, as they may no longer be effective against the mutated “Omicron” strain of the virus and its latest mutations.
“These two treatments, designed to work by binding to the skeltivirus protein to neutralize its ability to infect cells, were among the first to be developed early in the pandemic,” he said.
He added: “But the virus has evolved since then, and growing evidence from laboratory tests shows that the effectiveness of sutrovimab and casrifimab-emdivimab treatments is limited in the face of the latest mutations of the virus.”
As a result, “the US health regulator removed them as well”.
And experts from the World Health Organization strongly advised against using them to treat people with Covid-19 yesterday, Thursday, as part of a new set of recommendations published by the British Medical Journal. .
The US Food and Drug Administration in April pulled sutrovimab, which is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline and its partner Fair Biotechnology, from the local market.
This drug sold billions of dollars and became one of the best-selling drugs produced by British companies last year.
The combination antibody cacerifimab-imdivimab, produced by Regeneron and its partner Roche, also generated billions of dollars in sales and was one of the top-selling drugs from US companies last year.
The FDA revised its position on the treatment in January, limiting its use to a smaller group of patients, citing its reduced potency against the Omicron mutant.
The European Medicines Regulatory Agency still recommends both treatments.
Source: Lebanon Debate
