Editor’s note: As of 11/30/22, monoclonal antibodies are no longer used to treat COVID-19. While the treatment has been effective in the past, it no longer works against the newer COVID-19 variants. The COVID-19 pills, Paxlovid, are still very effective and are readily available at many retail pharmacies.
Joe Gastaldo, MD, System Medical Director for Infectious Diseases explains why new variants are a big problem for monoclonal antibodies.
As far as SARS Coronavirus-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, evolves, we are likely to have more variants. When a new variant develops, one of the things we really need to identify is how well our immunity stands up against the variants. Specifically, how well do antibodies neutralize the variants.
In the outpatient realm, we have monoclonal antibodies, and they had a really important role in keeping at-risk people out of the hospital. Previously, we used monoclonal antibodies made by Eli Lilly and Regeneron. With the advent of the Omicron variant, those monoclonal antibody products we pulled because in lab studies, they did not neutralize the Omicron variant.
Subsequently, we now have two monoclonal antibodies that have activity against the Omicron variant. In the future, there could be a Pi variant, or another letter of the Greek alphabet, where our current monoclonal antibodies do not neutralize. Subsequently, these monoclonal antibodies would be pulled from the market.
Hopefully, we will have the infrastructure in place, so when we do have a new variant, we can quickly identify how well our monoclonal antibodies work in neutralizing them.
Want to learn more about common COVID-19 questions? Check our Fast Facts page.
