Washington: Existing drugs are very effective for treating Kovid-19 omicron According to a laboratory study, the type of SARS-CoV-2 virus.
However, available antibody therapies — usually given intravenously in hospitals — are significantly less effective against Omicron than earlier variants of the virus, the researchers said.
Laboratory tests have also shown that some antibodies have completely lost their ability to neutralize Omicron at the actual dose, he said.
“The bottom line is that we have countermeasures for treating Omicron. This is good news,” said the study’s lead author. yoshihiro kawaokaFrom University of Wisconsin-Madison in America.
“However, this is all in laboratory studies. Whether this translates to humans, we don’t know yet,” Kawaka said.
The findings, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, confirm other studies showing that most available antibody treatments are less effective against Omicron.
The clinically available tablets and antibodies were designed and tested by the researchers before they could identify the Omicron variant, which is significantly different from earlier versions of the virus.
When Omicron was identified, scientists feared that these differences, caused by mutations in the viral genome, could reduce the effectiveness of drugs designed to treat the original version of the virus.
In laboratory experiments using non-human primate cells, Kawaoka and his colleagues at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Japan tested a suite of antibodies and antiviral therapies against the original strain of the COVID-19 virus and its dominant forms.
They found that the US drug company Merck’s pill mollupiravir and the intravenous drug remdesivir were as effective against Omicron as they were against earlier viral strains.
instead of testing pfizerOf the Paxlovid pill, which is designed to be taken orally, the team tested a related drug by the company that is given intravenously.
The two drugs inhibit the same part of the viral machinery.
The researchers found that the intravenous form of the drug retained its effectiveness against Omicron, and that version is currently in clinical trials.
All four antibody treatments the researchers tested were less effective against Omicron than earlier strains of the virus.
two treatments, sotrovimab By GlaxoSmithKline And Evusheld by AstraZeneca, according to the researchers, has retained some ability to neutralize the virus.
However, they required anywhere from 3 to 100 times more drugs to neutralize Omicron than earlier versions, he said.
The study also showed that the two antibody treatments by Lilly and Regeneron were unable to neutralize Omicron at normal doses.
The researchers said these findings provide hope for how the omicron variant differs from earlier strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The spike protein contains dozens of mutations to the oomicron, which the virus uses to enter and infect cells.
Most antibodies were designed to bind to and neutralize the original spike protein and major changes in the protein can make the antibody less likely to attach to it.
In contrast, antiviral pills target the molecular mechanism the virus uses to make copies of itself inside cells, the researchers said.
The Omicron version has only a few changes to this machinery, making it more likely that the drugs will retain their ability to inhibit this replication process, he said.
However, available antibody therapies — usually given intravenously in hospitals — are significantly less effective against Omicron than earlier variants of the virus, the researchers said.
Laboratory tests have also shown that some antibodies have completely lost their ability to neutralize Omicron at the actual dose, he said.
“The bottom line is that we have countermeasures for treating Omicron. This is good news,” said the study’s lead author. yoshihiro kawaokaFrom University of Wisconsin-Madison in America.
“However, this is all in laboratory studies. Whether this translates to humans, we don’t know yet,” Kawaka said.
The findings, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, confirm other studies showing that most available antibody treatments are less effective against Omicron.
The clinically available tablets and antibodies were designed and tested by the researchers before they could identify the Omicron variant, which is significantly different from earlier versions of the virus.
When Omicron was identified, scientists feared that these differences, caused by mutations in the viral genome, could reduce the effectiveness of drugs designed to treat the original version of the virus.
In laboratory experiments using non-human primate cells, Kawaoka and his colleagues at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Japan tested a suite of antibodies and antiviral therapies against the original strain of the COVID-19 virus and its dominant forms.
They found that the US drug company Merck’s pill mollupiravir and the intravenous drug remdesivir were as effective against Omicron as they were against earlier viral strains.
instead of testing pfizerOf the Paxlovid pill, which is designed to be taken orally, the team tested a related drug by the company that is given intravenously.
The two drugs inhibit the same part of the viral machinery.
The researchers found that the intravenous form of the drug retained its effectiveness against Omicron, and that version is currently in clinical trials.
All four antibody treatments the researchers tested were less effective against Omicron than earlier strains of the virus.
two treatments, sotrovimab By GlaxoSmithKline And Evusheld by AstraZeneca, according to the researchers, has retained some ability to neutralize the virus.
However, they required anywhere from 3 to 100 times more drugs to neutralize Omicron than earlier versions, he said.
The study also showed that the two antibody treatments by Lilly and Regeneron were unable to neutralize Omicron at normal doses.
The researchers said these findings provide hope for how the omicron variant differs from earlier strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The spike protein contains dozens of mutations to the oomicron, which the virus uses to enter and infect cells.
Most antibodies were designed to bind to and neutralize the original spike protein and major changes in the protein can make the antibody less likely to attach to it.
In contrast, antiviral pills target the molecular mechanism the virus uses to make copies of itself inside cells, the researchers said.
The Omicron version has only a few changes to this machinery, making it more likely that the drugs will retain their ability to inhibit this replication process, he said.
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