<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/03/paxlovid-last-drug-in-the-cupboard-for-covid-as-variants-in-australia-evade-other-treatments>
"The antiviral Paxlovid is the “last drug left in the cupboard” to treat people
vulnerable to severe disease and death from Covid-19, a leading virologist
says.
The message from Associate Prof Stuart Turville is particularly concerning
given the variants circulating now are adept at evading antibodies.
Turville, from the Kirby Institute’s immunovirology and pathogenesis program,
says monoclonal antibody treatments are not effective against XBF – presently
the dominant variant across Australia – and BQ.1.1, which is also circulating.
Monoclonal antibody treatments are laboratory-made proteins designed to mimic
the natural antibodies produced by the immune system, stopping the virus from
replicating. The drugs, which include Sotrovimab and Evusheld, are delivered
intravenously.
A new study that Turville co-authored examined the ability of approved
monoclonal antibody therapies to neutralise currently circulating variants –
and the treatments fared poorly.
“The lack of neutralisation activity of Evusheld across many emerging variants
will need to be considered carefully moving forward,” the paper found."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
