Early laboratory studies suggest that a Covid-19 antibody treatment developed by GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Vir Biotechnology Inc. is effective against the Omicron variant, the companies said, setting it apart from similar therapies that appear to work less well against the highly mutated strain.
The companies said [December 2] that they had tested the drug, called sotrovimab, against certain individual mutations found in Omicron, which has now been detected in at least 24 countries, including the U.S. Glaxo and Vir said the findings were preliminary and they would need to test the treatment against the whole of the mutated spike protein found in the variant to confirm the result.
[Head of monoclonal antibody development at Glaxo Dr. Amanda] Peppercorn said she expected results of testing against the full mutated spike protein—needed to confirm that the treatment still works well against the Omicron variant—in the next two or three weeks.
Sotrovimab has been authorized in about a dozen countries, including the U.S., which has paid nearly $1 billion for hundreds of thousands of doses.
The development comes soon after Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., which makes one of the other widely available antibody therapies, said early studies suggested its treatment was less effective against Omicron.
