In this Fast Fact video, Joe Gastaldo, MD, System Medical Director for Infectious Disease, says one COVID-19 treatment may not be effective against the new variant.
It’s important to pay attention to COVID variants. On a weekly basis, the CDC releases a report on the predominant circulating strains of the various COVID variants. Currently, the predominant circulating strain still remains BA.5, but there is an up and coming variant BA.4.6. This variant is unique because it’s the first variant that we know of that has less activity with some of the medications we are using.
Currently, based on test tube studies, BA.4.6 is not expected to be neutralized by the monoclonal antibody Evusheld. As time goes on, we’ve seen this story before. We’ve had other monoclonal antibodies get pulled from the market because they were not active against the circulating variants. That is always a concern moving forward.
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