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The FDA has stopped recommending two COVID-19-based antibody therapies. World Health OrganizationOn the assumption that Omicron’s most recent offshoots have made them obsolete,
These two therapies were developed to block the spike protein of SARS-2 to stop the virus from infecting cells.
The virus has since evolved, and mounting evidence from lab tests suggests the two therapies – sotrovimab as well as casirivimab-imdevimab – have limited clinical activity against the latest iterations of the virus. The U.S. health regulator has also dropped their support for them.
Experts from WHO strongly opposed the use of these therapies in patients, according to WHO on Thursday With COVID-19As part of a series of recommendations published by the British Medical Journal, this reversing of previous conditional endorsements of them.
GSK and Vir Biotechnology’s sotrovimab – a drug that has sold billions of dollars and was a top seller for British drugmaker Vir Biotechnology – were pulled from the U.S. Market by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April.
The following are the highlights United StatesAlthough Omicron had been questioned about sotrovimab’s effectiveness in treating Omicron since February, Penny Ward, visiting professor of pharmaceutical medicine at King’s College London, stated that the WHO’s conclusion is a bit late.
The WHO, its headquarters pictured here in Geneva, Switzerland, on April 6, 2021, is asking countries around the world to follow its lead and stop recommending the sotrovimab and casirivimab-imdevimab antibody therapies to patients with COVID.
(REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo)
She said, “Now that WHO has made this recommendation, it will interesting to see how many countries follow it.”
Regeneron and partner Roche’s antibody cocktail casirivimab-imdevimab has also generated billions in sales and was one of the U.S. drugmaker’s top sellers last year.
The FDA updated its position on the treatment in January. They limited its use for a smaller number of patients due to its reduced potency against Omicron variant.
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The European drug regulator continues to recommend both therapies.
Gilead’s antiviral Remdesivir was another COVID treatment that was discovered early in the pandemic. The WHO has expanded its recommendation for this drug to include patients with severe COVID and patients who don’t have severe COVID.
COVID therapeutics are available that can be used to fight the virus. Others are in development and are expected to benefit patients.
